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[Aetat. 30] J O Y C E 331[I] wrote him the enclosed letter.' 45This letter agreed very unwillinglyto omit 'An Encounter' from the book on four conditions:I That the following note be placed by me before the first story:This book in this form is incomplete. The scheme of the book as framedby me includes a story entitled An Encounter which stands betweenthe first and second stories in this edition. ].].II That no further changes be asked of me.III That I reserve the right to publish the said story elsewhere before/afterthe publication of the book by your firm.IV That the book be published by you not later than 6th October 1912. 46Roberts noncommittally agreed to forward this letter to his London solicitor.Again Joyce's hopes soared, though his father, when informed ofthese concessions, warned him Roberts would findanother reason for notpublishing.John Joyce was right. Roberts received a letter from his solicitors—Charles Weekes, once a poet in George Russell's school, in London, andCollins in Dublin—informing him that the proposed omission was entirelyinsufficient. Roberts wrote Joyce on August 23, that he had beenadvised that actions in libel would lie in practically every case where anygoing concern, public house, railway company or whatever was mentionedby actual name. Joyce, said the solicitors, must put up two suretiesof £500 each. They even advised Roberts that Joyce had broken his contractby submitting for publication a book he knew to be libelous, andoffered to bring suit to recover Roberts's expenses. Roberts brusquely requestedthat Joyce 'make a substantial offer towards covering our loss.'Joyce received the letter at Roberts's office, where it had been left forhim. i read it,' he wrote Nora, 'and walked down the street feeling thewhole future of my life slipping out of my grasp.' 47He had no money,hope, or youth left. He sat for an hour on a sofa in Lidwell's office, andconsidered buying a revolver to 'put some daylight into my publisher.' 48Lidwell, appealed to once more, was now on Roberts's side. John Joyce,who told Charles privately that Dubliners was 'a blackguard production,'urged James to buck up and findanother publisher. But after pawninghis watch and chain so he could stay a little longer, Joyce went back toRoberts for a last try. At his most dogged, ironic, and practical, he tookup one by one the points made by Roberts's solicitor:i) A railway co. is mentioned once and then exonerated from all blameby two witnesses, jury and coroner,ii) Public houses are mentioned in four stories out of 15. In 3 of thesestories the names are fictitious. In the 4th the names are real becausethe persons walked from place to place (Counterparts).iii) Nothing happens in the public houses. People drink.iv) I offered to take a car and go with Roberts, proofs in hand, to the 3