New York, January 10, 1885. 



Horace F. Cutter, Esqre. 



My dear friend, — Two years ago 

 in Paris after I had returned from a 

 trip in Spain I wrote you a very long 

 letter and had it covered with a piece 

 of silk taken from an old robe of the 

 time of Cervantes. I put this letter 

 together with an ancient barber's ba- 

 sin of brass, and was on the point 

 of sending them to you. But at 

 the last moment what I had written 

 seemed so lacking in local color, so 

 dull and uninteresting, that I put it 

 one side. 



Now my mother has read it and 

 bids me forward it to you. I must 

 only ask you to be gentle with its 

 literary shortcomings and to be care- 

 ful that it does not by any misad- 

 venture get into print. 

 3 



