"I’m a screwed-up person who no longer knows how to communicate with the people I love. But I meant everything I told you in my letter. If I were your Nikki, I would have come back to you on Christmas Day, but I’m not Nikki. I know. And I’m sorry."
Source : Victoria J. Theodore, Scott Joplin, Stanford University. Dept. of Music (1990). “The ragtime solo piano works of Scott Joplin: an analysis and performing edition of three pieces”