iven to the Readings when he
crossed the Atlantic much of the form they then assumed[260]--reached me
when I was staying at Ross; and upon it was founded my last argument
against the scheme. This he received in London on the 28th of September,
on which day he thus wrote to his eldest daughter: "As I telegraphed
after I saw you, I am off to Ross to consult with Mr. Forster and Dolby
together. You shall hear, either on Monday, or by Monday's post from
London, how I decide finally." The result he wrote to her three days
later: "You will have had my telegram that I go to America. After a long
discussion with Forster, and consideration of what is to be said on both
sides, I have decided to go through with it. We have telegraphed 'Yes'
to Boston." Seven days later he wrote to me: "The Scotia being full, I
do not sail until lord mayor's day; for which glorious anniversary I
have engaged an officer's cabin on deck in the Cuba. I am not in very
brilliant spirits at the prospect before me, and am deeply sensible of
your motive and reasons for the line you have taken; but I am not in the
least shaken in the conviction that I could never quite have given up
the idea."

The remaining time was given to preparations; on the 2nd of November
there was a Farewell Banquet in the Freemasons' Hall over which Lord
Lytton presided; and on the 9th Dickens sailed for Boston. Before he
left he had contributed his part to the last of his Christmas Numbers;
all the writings he lived to complete were done; and the interval of his
voyage may be occupied by a general review of the literary labour of his
life.

FOOTNOTES:

[253] There had been some estrangement between them since the autumn of
1858, hardly now worth mention even in a note. Thackeray, justly
indignant at a published description of himself by the member of a club
to which both he and Dickens belonged, referred it to the Committee, who
decided to expel the writer. Dickens, thinking expulsion too harsh a
penalty for an offence thoughtlessly given, and, as far as might be,
manfully atoned for by withdrawal and regret, interposed to avert that
extremity. Thackeray resented the interference, and Dickens was justly
hurt by the manner in which he did so. Neither was wholly right, nor was
either altogether in the wrong.

[254] As I have thus fallen on theatrical subjects, I may add one or two
practical experiences which befell Dickens at theatres in the autumn of
1864, when he sallied fort