Since my return your letter of inquiry has been brought to my attention. I do not wish to be ungracious, but the subject is really one upon which I do not care to make a statement. The idea that Georgine Milmine³ is a myth amuses me very much. She is a very lively and husky person who lives in the western part of this State⁴, and who collected the great mass of material from which the McClure history⁵ was written. She did not write much of it herself. That was done mostly in the office by McClures⁶ editorial staff. I took my turn at it, as did several other persons⁷. It was not a subject I would have chosen to work upon, or a subject in which I had any particular interest. My interest was a purely editorial one; namely, to arrange the mass of notes and documents in a form that would be clear and effective for serial publication. You can readily understand why I do not wish to have my name connected in any way with a piece of work which was not of my own choosing, and in which I had only a partial responsibility - a responsibility shared with four or five other persons.

If I remember rightly, Mr. Smith⁸'s connection with the magazine did not begin until some time after the publication of this series of articles. His information, therefore, must have been second-hand.

I beg you, dear Mr. Wilson, to consider this confidential. I have been asked this question many times and have always before refused to make any reply whatsoever, but your profession seems to me a guarantee of discretion, and I feel sure you will keep this statement for your personal information and let it go no further. A shaping hand over the form, arrangement, and presentation of the facts in that series of articles, I did have.