t of Insurance is causing more trouble than we
ourselves could possibly have created. There haven't been any actual
results yet, but the moral effect for us has been immense. The Eastern
Conference people are no fools, and they can read the Mene-tekel on the
wall even if they don't know Assyrian.

"If you have talked with Mr. Osgood, you doubtless know that we are
agreed on our Boston plans. At the proper time he is to go back into
his office, taking the Guardian back with him--and probably the first
thing he will do after taking charge again will be to resign the
Salamander. Meanwhile we sit as tight as a couple of dynamite
conspirators--and at present the Guardian appoints no Boston
representative and accepts no Boston business except from a few
suburban agents.

"Elsewhere things are looking very much more cheerful than when I saw
you; and when the rush begins to let up a bit, I shall have no
difficulty at all in persuading myself that a conference with Mr.
Osgood and our Boston attorneys is necessary. Until then I must do my
best to forget that New York is less delightful under some conditions
than--others.

"I hope you will be good enough to write me all about the wedding of
Miss Hurd and Wilkinson. Somehow I cannot help regarding it as a
fundamentally humorous happening--I think the picture of Wilkinson as a
man of responsibilities in any actual sense is probably the cause of my
amusement. But I wish them both the very best of luck, and if you
think it a suitable match, I am quite willing to accept your judgment.
Wilkinson always seemed to me to look quite happy and contented, and it
is the popular belief that any young bachelor of such an appearance
needs a woman to take care of him.

"Do you remember the old print of the Madison Cottage that we
discovered in the print room of the Library one afternoon? I found a
copy of it in a second-hand book shop down town a few days ago. In
case you don't object to having it I am "inclosing it herewith," as we
say in our office correspondence a hundred times a week. Except that
the people to whom we send the inclosures usually don't want them, and
I am hoping that you will care something about this.

"Very sincerely yours,

"RICHARD SMITH."

It was at the close of a pleasant afternoon in the good town of Boston,
only a few days after the arrival of this letter, that two girls and a
young man rather hastily descended the front steps of a certain
substant