MY DEAR COLVIN,--I do believe I am better, mind and body; I am tired just now, for I have just been up the burn with Wogg, daily growing better and boo'f'ler; so do not judge my state by my style in this. I am working steady, four Cornhill pages scrolled every day, besides the correspondence about this chair, which is heavy in itself. My first story, _Thrawn Janet_, all in Scotch, is accepted by Stephen; my second, _The Body Snatchers_, is laid aside in a justifiable disgust, the tale being horrid; my third, _The Merry Men_, I am more than half through, and think real well of. It is a fantastic sonata about the sea and wrecks; and I like it much above all my other attempts at story-telling; I think it is strange; if ever I shall make a hit, I have the line now, as I believe. Fanny has finished one of hers, _The Shadow on the Bed_, and is now hammering at a second, for which we have "no name" as yet--not by Wilkie Collins. _Tales for Winter Nights._ Yes, that, I think, we will call the lot of them when republished. Why have you not sent me a testimonial? Everybody else but you has responded, and Symonds, but I'm afraid he's ill. Do think, too, if anybody else would write me a testimonial. I am told quantity goes far. I have good ones from Rev. Professor Campbell, Professor Meiklejohn, Leslie Stephen, Lang, Gosse, and a very shaky one from Hamerton. Grant is an elector, so can't, but has written me kindly. From Tulloch I have not yet heard. Do help me with suggestions. This old chair, with its £250 and its light work, would make me. It looks as if we should take Cater's chalet[39] after all; but O! to go back to that place, it seems cruel. I have not yet received the Landor; but it may be at home, detained by my mother, who returns to-morrow. Believe me, dear Colvin, ever yours, R. L. S. Yours came; the class is in summer; many thanks for the testimonial, it is bully; arrived along with it another from Symonds, also bully; he is ill, but not lungs, thank God--fever got in Italy. We _have_ taken Cater's chalet; so we are now the aristo's of the valley. There is no hope for me, but if there were, you would hear sweetness and light streaming from my lips. _The Merry Men._ Chap. I. Eilean Aros. \ II. What the Wreck had brought to Aros. | Tip III. Past and Present in Sandag Bay. > Top IV. The Gale. | Tale. V. A Man out of the Sea. / TO W. E. HENLEY _Kinnaird Cottage, Pitlochry, July 1881._ MY DEAR HENLEY,--I hope, then, to have a visit from you. If before August, here; if later, at Braemar. Tupe!