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3 there have been other times - - -

I know that it is your affection that brings you back to the determination that I shall become an artist I know that the things that block and baffle me do not seem insurmountable to you. The Moment may come when they shall not seem so to me. But facing the music in the way you suggest is not the answer. There are things to be done -- after which that would be comparatively easy. You think it would be for the good of my soul. I dont want to beg the question -- but why would the name on the cover or fly-leaf be important? If the novel is lousy and full of holes, it is because I am lousy and full of holes. By whose standard? The critics? Dont misunderstand me. I have a profound respect for the judgment of some of them. But must I proclaim myself an artist?

So far I have written as I felt, and polished as my sense or feeling for what I was trying to say dictated. . . I haven't read the thing for along while (being enthusiastically absorbed in the second story) but I have no doubt I would throw out lots of it on a careful re-reading. One gets to a finer feeling, and a better sense of proportion with the years.

Write me on this point: What is the thing that should induce an artist to reconstruct a work -- beyond his own feeling, and that of his friend who comes with understanding into the innermost and sacred rooms of his house of life. One does not