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29 De Vere Gardens, W.,
6th July 1889.

My beloved Alma, -- I had the honour yesterday of dining with the Shah,
whereupon the following dialogue: --

"Vous e^tes poe"te?"

"On s'est permis de me le dire quelquefois."

"Et vous avez fait des livres?"

"Trop de livres."

"Voulez-vous m'en donner un, afin que je puisse me ressouvenir de vous?"

"Avec plaisir."

I have been accordingly this morning to town, where the thing is procurable,
and as I chose a volume of which I judged the binding might take
the imperial eye, I said to myself, "Here do I present my poetry
to a personage for whom I do not care three straws; why should I not venture
to do as much for a young lady I love dearly, who, for the author's sake,
will not impossibly care rather for the inside than the outside
of the volume?" So I was bold enough to take one and offer it
for your kind acceptance, begging you to remember in days to come
that the author, whether a good poet or no, was always, my Alma,
your affectionate friend,