Oct. 6 1874 d.L.M. I haven't said a / word to you about that / miserable affair W. Morris / told you of - because I want / to help myself to forget it & / because there are no words / for it really in any known / tongue - nor should I write - / then only as you are going to / Pisa for a bit you are pretty / sure to come across the / news, party or individual / & I should like you for my / sake not to exchange a word / of any kind - or if you like not / even ? - but I hope / you won't meet - still Pisa is little - tomorrow when I go / to you we won't allude it / but talk of pleasant things / ever youraffec. EBJ.
This letter refers to the break up M M F & Co. 1. The word affair is not used in the modern parlance it only means "goings on" 2. The letter was written exactly at a heated moment in the negotiations for the breaking up of the firm 3. On the same day Morris wrote to his solicitor (Theodore Watts Dunton) for a meeting at his house.