Letter 3
Letter from Morley Callaghan to Raymond Knister, undated
58A Astley Ave.,
Wednesday.
Dear Raymond;
We were away for a few days and so there is a delay in answering you. While we thank you for your invitation, there doesn’t seem to be much of a chance of our leaving here for some time.
The solicitor usually takes a percentage, a very small one of all the charges. I should say he would charge you for drawing application for letters of administration. And as for the bond, if a person were to go to a lawyer to arrange for the bond, there would be a small charge. There is a fixed legal tariff for all these things. If there is a charge, fixed, that anybody has to pay the Registrar for the administrators bond itself, you’ll have to pay that charge, and if your lawyer make application for you, then you’ll have to pay him a small percentage for his application. If the lawyer charged you 21.50 and the Registrar charged you 21.50, for the bond, then it looks as if the lawyer is overcharging you on that item. He should have a small charge, nut you shouldn’t be paying for the bond twice.
The novel is complete now; there may be a bolt to tighten here and there. A lot of the stuff you looked at is tossed aside, or tightened up and made more particular. The novel will come out in the winter.
I think it would be a good idea to bring out a book as soon as you can. As for literary style, I have no awareness of it, or the lack of it. Sometimes there is a piece of work that strikes me as being good writing in a kind of way that an organism is good.
Best wishes to your wife,
[Handwritten signature: Morley Callaghan]