I cannot thank you too much for Sultan. He is a noble fellow, has fallen into the ways of the family with a grace and dignity that denote the gentleman, and came down to the railway a day or two since to welcome me home (it was our first meeting), with a profound absence of interest in my individual opinion of him which captivated me completely. I am going home to-day to take him about the country, and improve his acquaintance. You will find a perfect understanding between us, I hope, when you next come to Gad's Hill. (He has only swallowed Bouncer once, and temporarily.) Your hint that you were getting on with your story and liked it was more than golden intelligence to me in foreign parts. The intensity of the heat, both in Paris and the provinces, was such that I found nothing else so refreshing in the course of my rambles. With many more thanks for the dog than my sheet of paper would hold, Believe me, ever very faithfully yours. [Sidenote: Mrs. Procter.] GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, _Sept. 26th, 1865._ MY DEAR MRS. PROCTER, I have written the little introduction, and have sent it to my printer, in order that you may read it without trouble. But if you would like to keep the few pages of MS., of course they are yours. It is brief, and I have aimed at perfect simplicity, and an avoidance of all that your beloved Adelaide would have wished avoided. Do not expect too much from it. If there should be anything wrong in fact, or anything that you would like changed for any reason, _of course you will tell me so_, and of course you will not deem it possible that you can trouble me by making any such request most freely. You will probably receive the proof either on Friday or Saturday. Don't write to me until you have read it. In the meantime I send you back the two books, with the two letters in the bound one. With love to Procter, Ever your affectionate Friend. [Sidenote: Mr. Edmund Yates.] HOTEL DU HELDER, PARIS, _Wednesday, Sept. 30th, 1865._ MY DEAR EDMUND,