letter-writer--the merit of brevity. He will weary nobody's patience,
if he is allowed to have a hearing. Let him, therefore, be permitted, in
his own high-flown way, to speak for himself.

_First Letter._--"My statement, as your Lordship requests, shall be
short and to the point. I was doing very well as a portrait-painter
in the country; and I had a wife and children to consider. Under
the circumstances, if I had been left to decide for myself, I should
certainly have waited until I had saved a little money before I ventured
on the serious expense of taking a house and studio at the west end of
London. Your Lordship, I positively declare, encouraged me to try the
experiment without waiting. And here I am, unknown and unemployed, a
helpless artist lost in London--with a sick wife and hungry children,
and bankruptcy staring me in the face. On whose shoulders does this
dreadful responsibility rest? On your Lordship's!"

_Second Letter._--"After a week's delay, you favor me, my Lord, with a
curt reply. I can be equally curt on my side. I indignantly deny that
I or my wife ever presumed to see your Lordship's name as a means
of recommendation to sitters without your permission. Some enemy has
slandered us. I claim as my right to know the name of that enemy."

_Third (and last) Letter._--"Another week has passed--and not a word
of answer has reached me from your Lordship. It matters little. I have
employed the interval in making inquiries, and I have at last discovered
the hostile influence which has estranged you from me. I have been, it
seems, so unfortunate as to offend Lady Lydiard (how, I cannot imagine);
and the all-powerful influence of this noble lady is now used against
the struggling artist who is united to you by the sacred ties of
kindred. Be it so. I can fight my way upwards, my Lord, as other men