Re: [Return letter: Atticus]
[A few days' interruption. The stationary is cheap college-ruled.]
Dear Atticus,
I am delighted you find some deep meaning in the book, which I picked up from a shop. There are a number open late into the evening, far more than I think seemly, but it is convenient for something like me. [Enclosed, there is the most recent Lee Child, brand-new and unopened. It has a faint gasoline scent.]
I am pleased you are attempting to write your own manual, and forge your own path to control. I find that adults--dead or alive--are not so different than children. They react well to reward and badly to pain.
I am no academic. I have never been one, nor do I think it possible. [Here something illegible is crossed out, starting with "My"] I shall leave study to you.
You may let your wolf try her teeth on me. I have met them before, and will again, I daresay.
Yours &c.
P.S. Pray tell me how our mutual acquaintance does get on. They leave details from their correspondence. [Illegible initial.]