1 The Vokes family included three sisters (Jessie [1851–84], Victoria [1853–94], and Rosina [1858–94]), their brother (Frederick [1846–88]), and an un-related associate (Walter Fawdon, who used the stage name “Fawdon Vokes”). They began as child performers in Great Britain and became internationally popular comic actors. As a group they were best known for The Belles of the Kitchen, a “trifle” that “dealt merely with the antics, the capers, the private theatricals” of a “quintette of servants, when the master and his family were away” (Odell, 9:202). They presented that piece, original to them, in Roberts Opera House in Hartford on Wednesday, 25 February. On Friday, 27 February, the “Unrivalled Orchestra” of renowned conductor Theodore Thomas (1835–1905) performed, “among other novelties,” a new symphony by Joseph Joachim Raff (Hartford Courant: “New Advertisements,” 17 Feb 74, 21 Feb 74, 2; “Amusements,” 8 Nov 75, 1). Although both entertainments had been announced by Saturday, 21 February, tickets for reserved seats at the Thomas concert did not go on sale until Monday, 23 February. It is therefore likely that Clemens waited until Monday to send the “bearer”—doubtless his coachman, Patrick McAleer. Olivia presumably accompanied her husband on both evenings. It is not known who attended the concert with them.