"The breezes from B. & H. are very fluctuating. The same day in which
Mr. H. came and had the long talk which I reported to you, the firm
seem to have written the inclosed, which I did not get till this
morning.
"If you don't do anything for a month nothing in particular will
happen. Still, you want the books in the market, and perhaps somebody
will take them off B. & H.'s hands and do as well....
"I am somewhat inclined to say to them that we will take all the
stereotype plates, and all the books on hand of them, at the appraisal
of fair men. And the same men shall adjust all claims for the past
copyrights.
"I am surprised at this blunt note, after Mr. H.'s amiable
conversation. If we are going to have a settlement, let us open the
past and make them refer the whole thing; let them give up everything
and adjust the balance as fair men shall say is right." ....
But the note of the firm did not suggest any settlement of past claims;
and therefore presented but a lame and impotent conclusion to the
matter. What I wanted was indemnity for the past, not security for
the future. If a man cheats me once, says the proverb, it is a shame
to him. If he cheats me twice it is a shame to me. The information
that I was feeling and constantly expressing dissatisfaction might
perhaps be classified among the "locals" as "startling if true." What
I felt must have been entirely a matter of inference, as it was long
since I had expressed either satisfaction or dissatisfaction; I had
been concerned in other matters. My note to Mr. Hunt contained no
emotional expressions whatever. But as I had had my full share of
sentimentalizing, it was no more than fair that Messrs. B. & H. should
have their turn at it.
Their course seemed to me mere child's play, and not the play of good
children either; which must serve as excuse for the following reply
sent to Mr. Dane:--
"Your letter came this morning. Messrs. Brummell & Hunt have improved
even on Mr. Brummell. His felicitous, original idea was only that I
was impelled by a desire to have recourse to the 'parvenu hawkers
and peddlers of books.' The combined wisdom of the firm seems to
point to my becoming a parvenu hawker and peddler myself. Their fine
instinct has doubtless divined my long-cherished dream of setting up
a book-stall beside the orange-woman in the neighboring corner of the
Common.[6] Pray present my compliments to Messrs. Brummell & Hunt, and
say to them with many thanks, that as this new career could hardly be
said to open brilliantly with an array of obsolete and obsolescent
volumes, I do not propose to enter upon it until some new work
appears, when I shall crave their blessing not their books.
"Do not be at the trouble of transmitting this message. Send the letter
down bodily, and let it whistle itself."
On Monday, the 1st of June, one of my friends, Rev. Mr. Hayes, having
gone to Mr. Hunt with the olive-branch in his hand, but without my
knowledge, and been completely won over by his amiable bearing, came
to me, and begged me, if only out of regard to himself, to have an
interview with Mr. Hunt. I had been familiar for several years with Mr.
Hunt's gifts and graces, and knew that, though they were charming for
social intercourse, they were not easily reducible to two and a half,
still less to three and one-third per cent. But, as Mr. Hayes begged me
by his friendship; as, regarding Mr. Hunt, everything which I had cared
to save was lost, and as, I wanted my letters, which, though promised,
did not come, I consented, so far as to give Mr. Hayes permission
to say to Mr. Hunt that if he chose to come to my house to bring my
letters, I would be at home on Thursday, the 4th of June.