Why, hang it, for a moment or two you made me believe I had been in Boston “a day or two ago.” I was there the day the President was so alarmingly low, & lunched with you & Osgood & Aldrich &c &c., at the Parker—that is to say, about the 10th of August. That is not a day or two ago—it is two months ago. If I have been there since, may you be damned if I have any recollection of it. I must ask Osgood about this. He will know.

Your plans seem to give us a chance. I will venture to hope & believe that we can banish the workmen & get possession of this house by the time you are on your way back to Boston toward the middle of November; in which case you & Koto must let us have at least a good full week’s visit: out of you & Koto; this is the ardent & expressed desire of all of us, including Miss Spaulding & the children. We shall have the plumbers out of the house next week. We shall have the carpenters out in ten or fifteen days. We shall get the decorators in next Wednesday or Thursday. If they can put the library & dining-room through by 3 or 4 weeks from now, we shall be all right & ready, for the rest of their work will not be seriously in our way. Now therefore, won’t you let us know, about the first of November, where you are?—so we can write or telegraph you & say Hurrah! or Alas! We have all talked of this visit, & anticipated it, & hankered after it, ever since you & Koto evanished out of these doors.

With the affectionate regards of all the household to you & Koto,