Will you kiss your little daughter from me, and tell her that her father has written a delightful poem about her? Remember me, please, to Mrs. Gosse, to Middlemore, to whom some of these days I will write, to ——, to ——, yes, to ——, and to ——. I know you will gnash your teeth at some of these; wicked, grim, catlike old poet. If I were God, I would sort you—as we say in Scotland.—Your sincere friend,
R. L. S.
“Too young to be our child”: blooming good.
To Sidney Colvin
Monterey [December 1879].
MY DEAR COLVIN,—I have been down with pleurisy but now convalesce; it was a slight attack, but I had a hot fever; pulse 150; and the thing reminds me of my weakness. These miseries tell on me cruelly. But things are not so hopeless as they might be so I am far from despair. Besides I think I may say I have some courage for life.
But now look here:
Fables and Tales
| Story of a Lie | 100 | pp. like the Donkey. |
| Providence and the Guitar | 52 | |
| Will o’ the Mill | 45 | |
| A Lodging for the Night | 40 | (about) |
| Sieur de Malétroit’s Door | 42 | |
| —— | ||
| say | 280 | pp. in all. |
Here is my scheme. Henley already proposed that Caldecott should illustrate Will o’ the Mill. The Guitar is still more suited to him; he should make delicious things for that. And though the Lie is not much in the way for pictures, I should like to see my dear Admiral in the flesh. I love the Admiral; I give my head, that man’s alive. As for the other two they need not be illustrated at all unless he likes.