Autograph letter signed : "Hawthorns", Keswick, to Morris Colles, 1893 January 6.

Declining to write two articles as he is "...busy with my book;" discussing his difficulties in completing "The Manxman"; saying "The truth is that though working every day I am getting along so very slowly with the Tillotson story that I am growing very anxious about, & worrying greatly over the arrangement for the Manxman. The night before last I lay awake over it, & last night it gave me a bad throbbing at the back of the neck. Under fair conditions I ought to be able to do it, but the present conditions are not fair, for the amount of research the present story involves is really overwhelming. To get any sufficient body of The Manxman done by Sept. seems almost impossible. I am deeply troubled to say this, but it is unavoidable. What can we do?"; asking if he might get a postponement for 6 months or a year.