title: Master Letters of Emily Dickinson
author: R. Franklin
description: R. W. Franklin was Director of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. He is the recipient of the Emily Dickinson International Society's Award for Outstanding Contribution.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Courting Mr. Lincoln
  
  
  
  
  
  ![Images](../Images/image00243.jpeg)
  
  
  
  
  
  _A Novel_
  
  
  
  
  
  Louis Bayard
  
  
  
  
  
  ![logo](../Images/image00244.jpeg)  
  
  
  ALGONQUIN BOOKS OF CHAPEL HILL 2019
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  _Courting Mr. Lincoln_ is a work of historical fiction, which means that,
  where necessary, I have reshuffled chronology, speculated, and invented. At
  the same time, I have hewed as closely as possible to the historical record
  and to the documented psychology of Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd, and Joshua
  Speed. The quotations from Lincoln’s letters to Speed are drawn from original
  documents.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I hide myself within my flower,  
  
  
  That wearing on your breast,  
  
  
  You, unsuspecting, wear me too—  
  
  
  And angels know the rest.
  
  
  
  
  
  I hide myself within my flower,  
  
  
  That, fading from your vase,  
  
  
  You, unsuspecting, feel for me  
  
  
  Almost a loneliness.
  
  
  
  
  
  —Emily Dickinson
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Contents
  
  
  
  
  
  ![Images](../Images/image00245.jpeg)
  
  
  
  
  
  [Part One](part0004.xhtml)
  
  
  
  
  
  [Mary](part00