42
---
say 280 pp. in all.

Here is my scheme. Henley already proposed that Caldecott should
illustrate _Will o' the Mill_. The _Guitar_ is still more suited to him;
he should make delicious things for that. And though the _Lie_ is not
much in the way for pictures, I should like to see my dear Admiral in
the flesh. I love the Admiral; I give my head, that man's alive. As for
the other two they need not be illustrated at all unless he likes.

Is this a dream altogether? I would if necessary ask nothing down for
the stories, and only a small royalty but to begin _from the first copy
sold_.

I hate myself for being always on business. But I cannot help my fears
and anxieties about money; even if all came well, it would be many a
long day before we could afford to leave this coast. Is it true that the
_Donkey_ is in a second edition? That should bring some money, too, ere
long, though not much I dare say. You will see the _Guitar_ is made for
Caldecott; moreover it's a little thing I like. I am no lover of either
of the things in Temple Bar; but they will make up the volume, and
perhaps others may like them better than I do. They say republished
stories do not sell. Well, that is why I am in a hurry to get this out.
The public must be educated to buy mine or I shall never make a cent. I
have heaps of short stories in view. The next volume will probably be
called _Stories_ or A _Story-Book_, and contain quite a different lot:
_The Pavilion on the Links_: _Professor Rensselaer_: _The Dead Man's
Letter_: _The Wild Man of the Woods_: _The Devil on Cramond Sands_. They
would all be carpentry stories; pretty grim for the most part; but of
course that's all in the air as yet.--Yours ever,

R. L. S.

TO W. E. HENLEY

_Monterey, December 11th, 1879._

MY DEAR HENLEY,--Many, many thanks for your long letter. And now to
rectifications:--

1. You are wrong about the _Lie_, from choosing a wrong standard.
Compare it with my former stories, not with Scott, or Fielding, or
Balzac, or Charles Reade, or even Wilkie Collins; and where will you
find anything half or a tenth part as good as the Admiral, or even Dick,
or even the Squire, or even Esther. If you had thought of that, you
would have complimented me for advance. But you were not quite sincere
with yourself: you were seeking arguments to make me devote myself to
plays, unbeknown, of course, to