
Four letters of the 18th and 19th of October reached me
together as you intended. You may be sure, dear Walt Whitman, that the moment I had
them I wrote to Mr. Balestier to make an appointment. He
replied promptly that what he was really after was the American copyright—only
in a minor degree
the Continental, and not the English at all, which in his opinion does not exist. He
said he would appoint a meeting very shortly; & I am daily expecting to hear
again. My own impression is that if you revised your works finally in few or many
details, and the revision was first published here, the new readings would have
English copyright—which a publisher could defend, and so maintain the position
of publishing the only
finally correct edition. Anything that I can do to forward your
views will be a pleasure to me, be sure; but I expect to get no further with Mr.
Balestier than to ascertain just what is the scope and end of his present approach
to you. The moment I can see what he is driving at I will write to you again. About
American copyright, of course, I have absolutely no
instructions from you.
The above I have written 24 hours after receipt of your letter of the 29th of October, with the
enclosure which is too precious to name. Could I have caught the Cunarder-mail
of this morning from Queenstown, I should have written
yesterday, if only to send my love and thanks for the delicate kindness you have
done me. Your intuitive knowledge of men is wonderful: I do not know anything you
could have sent that would have touched me as your latest gift has done. But how did you know that, dear Walt Whitman?

