Only a line, to say how glad I am, for dear Molly’s sake—yes, & for yours; for you can’t be as indifferent to the thing as you seem. That’s all——I shall be cool & distant till you stop this dam nonsense of shirking Hartford every 3 months & then rushing home to apologize for it. Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian; for that is the very thing I often want to do toward friends of mine, but dasn’t, from principle. I have dramatized Tom Sawyer, & if you had come last night, you could have read it; for I finished it last night. The novel? Yes, it’s serious; the scene is laid in the Sandwich Islands 65 years ago; that is, the first part—second part is a number of years later. George W Cable has been sick in the house several daysⒶemendation, & is still confined to his bed, but is getting well fast.

Again congratulations to you both,