“I am a little bit behind on Blanche’s play, and am hurrying off to Shelter Island to take off my coat and go to work on it. Tell our Blanche it is a _bully play_, and that the character of ‘_the girl_’ is sky-high--fits her from her head to her feet! I expect to have it in shape shortly now, and in her hands to study. I am getting together a _bully_ cast for it. I really think the new play _is my very best_, and I know she will be happy. Give her my love. “Faithfully, “DAVID BELASCO.” (_David Belasco to Blanche Bates, in San Francisco._) “Belasco Theatre, New York, “July 20, 1905. “My dear Blanche B.:-- “Your letter received. “I got a little behind on the play; you know I had to run off to London to do big things for the future, and when I got back I went under with my old attacks of neuralgia. You know how I suffer with them, and really, this time the pain was excruciating. I’m glad to say that I am all right again and I am working night and day, hoping that it is the best play I ever wrote. Your part fits you from your dear little feet up to your pretty head. It’s a _bully part_, and I know you will like it. If you don’t,--well, you need never kiss me again! I call the play ‘The Girl of the Golden [Illustration: Photograph by William Crooke, Edinburgh. Author’s Collection. HENRY IRVING IN THE LAST YEAR OF HIS LIFE--1904-’05] West.’ The characters call you ‘_The Girl_.’ The models of the play are fine--the last scene of all, ‘In the Wilderness,’ is a gem. There are some beautiful speeches in the play--very ‘Batesesque’; the lines just _crackle_ and all the situations are human. “Yes, send along the photo, and I will have a poster made of you. “_Entre nous_, we open in Pittsburgh, before coming into New York, playing there for two weeks at the new Belasco Theatre, as the stockholders have named it. It will be a great night. “Just keep well, enjoy your summer, and the moment I have finished the play,--which will be in about three weeks,--I will rush it into your hands. “With love, hugs, kisses and things, “Faithfully, “DAVID BELASCO.” (_David Belasco to Frederick F. Schrader, in Washington, D. C._) “Belasco Theatre, New York, “July 22, 1905. “My dear Mr. Schrader:--