7.30 P.M. In at W.'s only a few minutes. Found him in the parlor. Had not been out today. I said it seemed like old times to see him down stairs in the evening. He asked: "Ah! it seems like a step forward, does it?" And then quietly—"Well—maybe it is!"—But his tone was of doubt.
Still he was very cheery. When I spoke of the beauty of the river at sunset he remarked: "Ah! it is good to be with the river—good: the river mends us: is good for many things more than one thing!" He was in a tender mood. I kissed him as I left.
He said: "News is scant: nothing comes up but the Le Coney trial." And he said as yet he had felt no impulse to write the Bruno lines for Brinton.