Livy my darling, I don’t make any excuse, I only say I have worked like a dog, through this blistering weather & come home, whether early or late with the feeling that I couldn’t write. I am just from the theatre now, 5 PM. IⒶemendation coached those actors five hours in that close, hot oven, & before that had been away up town on foot, on a business errand. To-night we hears rehearse again—also tomorrow. I believe the 3 first acts will go off nicely—& that is the main point; if the curtain goes down handsomely on the 3d act, all will be well. It will not go down handsomely on the last act—I think I can foresee that. The last act is exceedingly difficult, being cut all up into ejaculations, & O’s, & exclamations, & rushes, & shouts, & noise, & it seems impossible to drill the people into doing it right. There will be gaps of silence, & mistakings of cues that will be pretty distressing. Still, we are having a much more thorough rehearsal thatn we had of Col. Sellers. Daly stays right by & attends strictly to business. He makes them do a scene over three or four times, till they get it right.

Harte has not put in an appearance.

Our officer writes me that George & Mary were gone on a pic-nic 24 hours, the other day. I am going to keep the officer on duty there every night till we go home. It will be best, now that Lizzy’s affair is in all the papers.

My darling I do love you; I do love you with all my heart, & am so sorry I have caused you distress. I won’t do it again, sweetheart.