© Copyright 2001 R. G. Harrison Letter 355b Nuenen, early February 1884
Dear Theo,
Coming home, you may have found another note I wrote you. But whereas in this I asked you to take back some things you said, now I ask you not to.
For even if you should say you had come to think differently about things, I should not be able to believe you, as I am of the opinion that you are definitely like that �and that it is not to be expected that you will actually change your mind in the near future. When years have gone by, we shall perhaps speak about these matters in quite a different way, but probably not even then.
For the time being I believe we certainly need not revert to the subject.
What you might send next month over and above the 100 francs, you would get back, so please send 100 francs, which for the time being I shall continue to count on according to our agreement, but nothing more.
And it will be my endeavour to find something to replace that, and in the long run I suppose I shall succeed.
Goodbye.
Vincent
[Postscript]
Please do not think I do not want to be good friends �but in this case it is not in the nature of things; even if one should try, it would be no good �in short, it is a case nobody would be able to do much about.
I believe that your character is now cast in a definite mould �mine is too �and the shapes are not identical.
I cannot say I really take ill of you �neither perhaps do you of me �but to go on as if we were of one mind,
we should have to be like Monsieur Joseph Prudhomme in Monnier’s book, and I at least utterly refuse to be like that, and for your sake I hope you will do the same. So I’m not going to take it to heart any longer.