Mr Langdon is ever so much better, & we have every reason to believe that he is going to get well, & that speedily.

I fancy the book you speak of must be the Appleton book.1explanatory note I cannot think of any other, & have no knowledge of any other. But I shall probably never have to do the Appleton book. They asked me to name a price. I named a pretty stiff one. And at the same time, I said that if it were a subscription book I could afford easier terms. They misunderstood me and thought that I was suggesting that it be made a subscription work—& so they accepted the idea my suggestion and offered higher pay than I spoke. Ⓐemendation of. But I wrote them immediately that they had misconstrued me, & that I could not do a subscription book for them at any price whatever. And moreover, that I could n do nothing more than the original proposition called for. And that I could not even do that unless I could do it either before or immediately after my Adirondack trip. They have had two or ample to time Ⓐemendation to have written me half a dozen times since, & haven’t done it. Therefore it is far from likely that any “humorous book” is will issue from my pen shortly.

If Mr L. gets thoroughly well, in time, my wife & I will go straight from Buffalo to Vergennes, Vt., the Ⓐemendation at the end of July, & be joined there by the Twichells. It is our shortest & straightest route to the woods.

We shall be here 10 days or 2 weeks yet. Come—come either here or to Buf.2explanatory note