If I have time tomorrow, or I should rather say this day, as it is now near one o'clock, I will write you about other matters; and if I have no letter from you, will perhaps give you another scolding.
Yours most truly, W.BLACKWOOD.
A long correspondence took place between Blackwood and Murray on Ballantyne's proposal.

Blackwood was inclined to accept, notwithstanding the odd nature of the proposal, in the firm belief that "the heart's desire" of Ballantyne was to get rid of Constable.

He sent Murray a list of Ballantyne's stock, from which the necessary value of books was to be selected.

It appeared, however, that there was one point on which Blackwood had been mistaken, and that was, that the copyright of the new novel was not to be absolutely conveyed, and that all that Ballantyne meant, or had authority to offer, was an edition, limited to six thousand copies, of the proposed work.

Although Murray considered it "a blind bargain," he was disposed to accept it, as it might lead to something better.