Hired as Livy’s secretary in 1902, Isabel V. Lyon quickly became an assistant to the Clemens household in general. She moved with them to Italy in 1903; after Livy died there in June 1904, Lyon became SLC’s private secretary. She adored her employer and referred to him as “the King.” Most aspects of the household were under her management. SLC gave her a cottage on his estate, and—apparently without realizing what he was signing—granted her and Ralph Ashcroft, her future husband, power of attorney over his business affairs. Lyon married Ashcroft in March 1909. In April SLC accused the pair of mismanagement and fired them, preparing his lengthy “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript” to represent his side of the affair should the need arise. Lyon and Ashcroft divorced in 1926. Lyon never spoke publicly about her time with the Clemenses. She left her diary from those years to the Mark Twain Papers.