Hemingway’s affection for Ivancich is apparent throughout the letters, which are both frank and personal. In one letter dated February 22, 1953, Hemingway describes the painful event of having to shoot his cat Willie after the animal was struck by a car. When a group of tourists arrived at his home the same day, he writes, “I still had the rifle and I explained to them they had come at a bad time and to please understand and go away. But the rich Cadillac psycho said, ‘We have come at a most interesting time. Just in time to see the great Hemingway cry because he has to kill a cat.’”