ABSTRACT
You need not regret anything in your letter for you amplified what Ida had said and I was glad to have your own personal impressions of Austen. I think it is particularly satisfactory that he should be cutting down his smoke & his drink. I have long thought that he indulged far too much in both and that sooner or later he would have to pay for it. But I did not think he would take kindly to any expression of such views from me and I did not therefore say anything to him. That he should be doing the right thing now even though rather late is very gratifying.
