London, 23 November 1886 

My dear Laura, 

I intended to write to you today but had to write to Edward °° first 
to catch the steamer, and that has taken me till now 5 p.m. So I must 
delay till to-morrow. 

Prefaces, etc., corrected in 14 proofs, so by end of week my share 
of the work will probably be done. Damned glad, it has worried me 
more than a little. How soon Swan Sonnenschein & Co. will now 
bring it out I cannot tell. 

In the meantime I enclose the two American letters °°° I have just 
replied to. 

Thanks for ‘Fergus’ —they do decline then to take his name? 

Cyon has orders to start a large French paper (or to buy an existing 
one) in Paris in the interest of Russia, that was what he went home 
and brought the money for. 

Yours affectionately, 

F.E.