"Dear Professor Huxley,--I thank you for your letter of the 12th inst.
I am quite sure you would not wish to do any injustice in this matter.
But, instead of publishing any extract from my letter, might I ask you
to read the passage as it [310] appears in the verbatim report of the
trial which was printed day by day, and used by counsel on both sides,
and by the Judge during the case? I had hoped to have got you a copy
to-day, but find that I was too late. I shall have it first thing
to-morrow morning. You will find that it is quite clear, and
conclusively disposes of the alleged admission of untruthfulness.
Again thanking you for your courtesy,
"I am, yours faithfully,
W. T. Stead."
Thus it appears that the letter which Mr. Stead wrote to me on the 13th
of January does not contain one word of that which he ways it
contains, in the statement which appears in the "Times" to-day.
Moreover, the letter of mine to which Mr. Stead refers in his first
communication to me is not the letter which appeared on the 13th, as
he states, but that which you published on December 27th, 1890.
Therefore, it is not true that Mr. Stead wrote "at once." On the
contrary, he allowed nearly a fortnight to elapse before he addressed
me on the 10th of January 1891. Furthermore, Mr. Stead suppresses the
fact that, since the 13th of January, he has had in his possession my
offer to publish his version of the story; and he leads the reader to
suppose that my only answer was that he "had better write to [311] you
direct. All the while, Mr. Stead knows perfectly well that I was
withheld from making public use of his letter of the 10th by nothing
but my scruples about using a document which was marked "private"; and
that he did not give me leave to quote his letter of the 10th of
January until after he had written that which appeared yesterday.