delegated work is seldom thoroughly done. if i had written you myself i should have been better understood. for i should have made it plain that it is not simply the book that is in my way but many other things. one of these will cover the ground; i am under contract for a number of miscellaneous articles; i seldom write one; never write one except upon impulse; and when it is written it is no longer my property if i consider it worth printing. it must be applied upon the contract. i have no option in the matter. however i am less in debt, morally, than any of the rest of the tribe; for i handed the manuscript of “the innocenceⒶemendation abroad” to bret harte and told him to take such matter out of it as he pleased for the overland free of charge. i do not remember whether he used any of the matter or not, but he had abundant opportunity in as much as the book was not published until about two years later.