DEAR MR. BELL,--Your hand is in it! and you have my best thanks.
Although I wouldn't cross an ocean again for the price of the ship that
carried me, I am glad to do it for an Oxford degree. I shall plan to
sail for England a shade before the middle of June, so that I can have a
few days in London before the 26th.
Sincerely,
S. L. CLEMENS.
He had taken a house at Tuxedo for the summer, desiring to be near
New York City, and in the next letter he writes Mr. Rogers
concerning his London plans. We discover, also, in this letter that
he has begun work on the Redding home and the cost is to come
entirely out of the autobiographical chapters then running in the
North American Review. It may be of passing interest to note here
that he had the usual house-builder's fortune. He received thirty
thousand dollars for the chapters; the house cost him nearly double
that amount.
*****
To H. H. Rogers, in New York:
TUXEDO PARK,
May 29, '07.
DEAR ADMIRAL,--Why hang it, I am not going to see you and Mrs. Rogers at
all in England! It is a great disappointment. I leave there a month from
now--June 29. No, I shall see you; for by your itinerary you are most
likely to come to London June 21st or along there. So that is very good
and satisfactory. I have declined all engagements but two--Whitelaw Reid
(dinner) June 21, and the Pilgrims (lunch), June 25. The Oxford ceremony
is June 26. I have paid my return passage in the Minne-something, but
it is just possible that I may want to stay in England a week or two
longer--I can't tell, yet. I do very much want to meet up with the boys
for the last time.
I have signed the contract for the building of the house on my
Connecticut farm and specified the cost limit, and work has been begun.
The cost has to all come out of a year's instalments of Autobiography in
the N. A. Review.
Clara, is winning her way to success and distinction with sure and
steady strides. By all accounts she is singing like a bird, and is not
afraid on the concert stage any more.
Tuxedo is a charming place; I think it hasn't its equal anywhere.
Very best wishes to you both.