'[letter from Mr Morley to Mrs Ward] It was most pleasant to me to receive the little volume ["Bessie Costrell"] in its pretty dress, and with the friendly dedication. It will take its place among my personal treasures, and I am truly grateful to you for thinking of me. The story is full of interest to me, and in the vein of a true realism, humanising instead of brutalising. The "severity" of the poor dead woman's look, and the whole of that page, redeems with a note of just pity all the sordid elements'.