[expresses pleasure that Prisoners of Hope, her first published book, was appreciated by Elizabeth Whiting ]

[thanks him for his pleasant letter, saying "Of course it is my meaning to do this story to the best of my ability. It is only that no man -nor no woman -can say how much or how little one's ability will bring forth." She explains that she wants the six chapters returned so that she can make corrections and changes in the manuscript and promises to return the whole to him when the changes have been made and she has written at least ten chapters. She also admits she is puzzled when people address her as Mary E. Johnston, as she has no middle name]

[regrets her share of their mutual misunderstanding but still feels that some of the points made in his letter should have been made during their original negotiations and agrees to remain good acquaintances and well-wishers, "By nature I am a hard fighter but I can truly say that I rarely feel animosity toward the person whom, for reasons, I am fighting. If this is the case in actual conflict it is of course doubly the case when the conflict has ceased, or when, as in this case, I am prepared to agree that greater insight on my own part might have helped to prevent any grave conflict at all."]

[writes "I hope that your little daughter, whom you have named Audrey after the Audrey of whom I wrote, will grow to be a noble woman, loved and trusted by all who know her"]