I regret exceedingly the awkwardness which seemed to impress you this morning as a disposition to pry impudently into your business for the purpose of making you a subject of public gossip. Permit me to assure that such a motive was foreign to my mind. My object in calling upon you was simply that of friendly interest which I had been encouraged to think was reciprocal during our brief acquaintance in loc_gk.01443.jpg loc_gk.01442.jpg Washington. If my presence was an intrusion pray pardon it: but do not I beseech you attribute to presumption or idle curiosity that which sprang only from the most disinterested feelings of friendship.
Trusting that this explanation will exonerate me from all undeserved suspicion, I have the honor to remain
Most respectfully Redelia Bates. loc_gk.01444.jpgCorrespondent:
Redelia Bates (1842–1943) was a female
suffrage lecturer from St. Louis who married American socialist Albert Brisbane.
After his death, she edited and published his autobiography.