To Moncure D. Conway
18 October 1875 • Hartford, Conn.
(MS: NNC, UCCL 01270)

Hartford, Oct. 18.

My Dear Mr. Conway:

I don’t know where in the mischief to find you, but if you ever get this, promise that you will run up to Hartford & give Mrs. Clemens & me a few days of your [time.—] will you?

We would very greatly like to take you by the hand, & thank you for the kind offices you did us in London & that pleasant town of “Hep-worth.”1

We are so sincerely sorry that we were right in New York & yet one bother after another lost us the chance of seeing Lord Houghton, who was as kind to us in England of ‸as‸ if we had belonged to the peerage ourselves.

With hearty friendship,

Yrs Ever.

S. L. Clemens

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

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1 Conway and Clemens probably first met in London in 1872. The following year, he helped Clemens arrange an affectionate ruse to surprise Olivia with a visit to Stratford-upon-Avon, making her believe the destination was “Hepworth.” In August 1875 he sailed from England to undertake a four-and-a-half-month lecture tour of the eastern and midwestern United States. After visiting his father in Virginia and his sister in Pennsylvania, he began lecturing in mid-October. For his visit to the Clemenses, see 16 Dec 75 to Conway (L5, 171 n. 1, 411–12 n. 2; Burtis, 148–55).

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS, Conway Papers, Columbia University, New York City (NNC).

Previous publication: L6, 557.

Provenance:The Conway Papers were acquired by NNC sometime after Conway’s death in 1907.

Emendations and textual notes:

time.— • [deletion implied]