amount we each will have, which I have
already informed you, I was going to say, I have been shocked at the
_fabulous_ sum set down to each, but I have learned not to be surprised
at anything. Of course it is gotten up to defeat success. _You_ will
_now_ see the necessity for those circulars being issued weeks since. I
enclose you a scrap from yesterday's _Times_ of C., marked No. 1; also
No. 2, to-day's _Times_. The sum of $11,000 has been subtracted in
twenty-four hours from the same paper. If it continues for a few days
longer, it will soon be right. It is a secesh paper--says Congress gave
me $25,000 as a _present_, besides $20,000 of remaining salary. The
$25,000 _you_ know to be utterly false. You can show this note to B. &
K., also the scraps sent. Let no one see them but themselves, and then
burn them. It is all just as I expected--that when the division took
place, a 'mountain would be made of a mole-hill.' And I fear it will
succeed in injuring the premeditated plans. If the _war rages_, the
_Evening News_ might simply say that the sum assigned each was false,
that $75,000 was the sum the administrator, Judge Davis, filed his bonds
for. But by all means _my authority_ must not be given. And then the
_Evening News_ can descant on the $25,000 each, with income of $1,700
each, and Mrs. Lincoln's share, she not being able to touch any of her
sons' portion. My _word_ or _testimony_ must not appear in the article;
only the paper must speak _decidedly_. It must be managed very
judiciously, and without a day's delay.

"Yours truly,
"M. L."

"Nov 17--(Private for yourself).

"LIZZIE:--Show the note enclosed with this to B. & K.; do not let them
retain it an instant after reading, nor the printed articles. I knew
these falsehoods would be circulated when the estate was divided. What
_has_ been the cause of the delay about the circulars? I fear, between
ourselves, we have reason to distrust those men,----. Whatever is raised
by the colored people, I solemnly give my word, at my death it shall
_all_, every cent, be returned to them. And out of the sum, if it is
$50,000, _you_ shall have $5,000 at my death; and I cannot live long,
suffering as I am now doing. If $25,000 is raised by your people, you
shall have the sum at my death; and in either event, the $25,000 raised,
or $50,000, I will give you $300 a year, and the promised sum at my
death. It will make your life easier. I have more faith in F.D.'s and
G.'s e