[_Skerryvore_, _Bournemouth_], 24_th_ _September_ 1886.
MY DEAR LOCKER,—You are simply an angel of light, and your two letters
have gone to the post; I trust they will reach the hearts of the
recipients—at least, that could not be more handsomely expressed. About
the cheque: well now, I am going to keep it; but I assure you Mrs. — has
never asked me for money, and I would not dare to offer any till she did.
For all that I shall stick to the cheque now, and act to that amount as
your almoner. In this way I reward myself for the ambiguity of my
epistolary style.
I suppose, if you please, you may say your verses are thin (would you so
describe an arrow, by the way, and one that struck the gold? It scarce
strikes me as exhaustively descriptive), and, thin or not, they are (and
I have found them) inimitably elegant. I thank you again very sincerely
for the generous trouble you have taken in this matter which was so near
my heart, and you may be very certain it will be the fault of my health
and not my inclination, if I do not see you before very long; for all
that has past has made me in more than the official sense sincerely
yours,