notation and letterhead circled:

Address for
 2½ or 3 months.

I have just received your letter, and it contains just what I want—that is, the settling up of the Riley matter & the canceling of the contract for a book in place of the Riley book. This I wrote to Perkins the other day. I have long had the idea that the $2000 had been paid, or that it had been wiped out by a clause in a later contract—so I wrote Perkins to look into the matter & see how it stood, & if he could not make himself certain then leave the $2000 matter alone till I come home, but in the meantime get the darned Riley contract canceled, so that I should have no contract hanging over me but the one between Frank & me. I told him that if I still owe that $2000 I should not hesitate to pay it promptly.

Now if Perkins satisfies himself that I owe the $2000, let my copyright money now in the Company’s hands be drawn on for the paying of it, immediately; & the old contract be canceled; but if Perkins is in doubt, let the Co. cancel the contract anyway & receive my written obligation to do the right thing when I reach home. But I want that old dead (& by me long ago forgotten) contract canceled.

Yes, I would like to buy the plates of my books if they can be had at a reasonableⒶemendation figure. What will they take for them?

I am glad the new book promises to have a large sale, for our expenses in Paris (we arrived 5 days ago & propose to remain in this hotel 3 or 4 months) are something perfectly gaudy. There is still a slight chill in the air, & the firewoodⒶemendation for the children’s bedroom & our small parlor costs five dollars a day! If we had arrived here during the colder weather I should now be a tramp—& my appeal would be, “For the love of God give a poor stranger fifteen or twenty dollars worth of wood to keep him from freezing this bitter night.” We live in what is called a very cheap little hotel,—I wish I knew what it costs to live in a dear one.

Six eve days hence an artist a mile from here on top of the hill of Montmartre will yield up his studio to me for until my book shall be finished—& on that day I buckle in on my book again.

I wrote Frank about 2 or 3 weeks ago—addressed it simply “Hartford.” Give him my regards.