“Mr. Tatam came home by so circuitous a route that your letter of the 17th ult. did not reach me until yesterday.
“As he has told you who I am, I suppose he has also informed you of the nature of my avocations, in which case you will not, I think, feel much astonished at the irregular and interrupted nature of my correspondence with you. In fact, I am so completely occupied that I have scarcely time to do anything beside my business. I shall, however, send you a trifle occasionally.
“I affected the mysterious, as you call it, on no other
account but that I felt that what I sent was so very trivial, I was unwilling
to put a grave-looking signature to my
| 86 | AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. |
“You need not make any alteration in the direction of the Gazette.”
