Lady Burton, put off by Smithers’ recent letter regarding the republishing of Arabian Nights, “You certainly have surprised me lately by the strangeness of your letters, and your manner of addressing me. I did not expect it from you after our friendly working together, I did expect it from  Mr.Nichols, who wrote to me in a very familiar and off-hand style when you were away.”

“Now you must bear in mind, that it is impossible for me to forget the description you gave to my husband of Mr. Nichols in which you state that he is an unsafe man to deal with, that he is unscrupulous, has no commercial honesty and in addition is a really magnificent liar; & you describe his methods of doing business as always with many faces to my husband on all subjects.”

Different tone from his tone with Greene

The distinction between Smithers and Nichols way of doing business

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