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4.

April 26th, 1944

Dear Baron:

I am sorry not to be able to see you, as I ha^[[d]] been hoping to do right along, because as I told you anew [[strike through]] this morning [[/strike through]] over the telephone, I feel confident that after talking to you for a few minutes, you would have seen our point, thereby making an exchange of correspondence unnecessary.

Since I received your Registered letter of March 4th, time has passed. During the first weeks I was ill; later I asked you for an interview which you postponed until ^[[last monday]] [[strike through]] today [[/strike through]] when you asked me to write to you. ^[[Since monday the [[?]] of an [[?]] exhibition refunded me from]]
You will not be surprised if I tell you that of course I cannot agree with the spirit of ^[[the [[?]] combined in]] [[strikethrough]] your [[/strikethrough]] Registered letter of March 4th. It seems obvious to me as I had told you over the telephone and also wrote you ^[[during our [[?]] (the my [[?]] of [[?]] 19]] [[strikethrough]] at the final steps of our [[/strikethrough]] negotiations, that the tapestry could only be purchased ^[[for 6300]] from the firm [[strikethrough]], in other words [[/strikethrough]] ^[[Herefore]], that it was [[strikethrough]] its [[/strikethrough]] ^[[the firms]] property, and that is why, as you will recall, the firm could not accept the two checks which you first suggested sending and which you finally did send, and ^[[what]] we were thus compelled to return [[strikethrough]] them [[/strikethrough]] to you.

During our long drawn out negotiations, I repeated that the tapestry originally came from Count Zichy's collection and ultimately asked you to make payment for the total sum of $6,300 to the firm.

You will allow me to say that what actually happened between the time it left Count Zichy's collection and August or September 1943 is really the firm's concern as after all you bough the tapestry on its merit ^[[(]] after I had pointed out to you the restorations which were also indicated on the invoice that was mailed to you ^[[)]], and [[strikethrough]] ^[[ [[?]] and of put]] [[/strikethrough]] the transitory collections, if any, played no role. ^[[*I]] Your main concern at the time, [[strike through]] as I recall the whole matter [[/strikethrough]], was that the firm should not make a profit of more than $300. [[strikethrough]] ^[[absolutely not]] [[/strikethrough]]

I ^[[t]]old you repeatedly and wrote you that this was the case, and I repeat it to you today. In fact, in order to not only prove our good faith to you but also to show you in what spirit these negotiations were conducted by me from the very beginning, my firm, at my request, is willing - [[strikethrough]] should be agree on the choice of that person ^[[at [[?]] [[?]] ]] [[/strikethrough]] - to have [[strikethrough]] someone [[/strikethrough]] examine our books just in order to [[strike through]] prove the point [[/strikethrough]] ^[[determine]] that the 
^[[an in [[?[[ certified [[?]] [[?[[ and in any way [[?]] in the [[strikethrough]] and [[/strikethrough]] our competition [[?]] or [[?]] [[strike through]] and [[/strikethrough]] or with your affairs]]