XXIII. LETTERS, 1883, TO HOWELLS AND OTHERS. A GUEST OF THE

MARQUIS OF

LORNE. THE HISTORY GAME. A PLAY BY HOWELLS AND MARK TWAIN.

Mark Twain, in due season, finished the Mississippi book and placed

it in Osgood's hands for publication. It was a sort of partnership

arrangement in which Clemens was to furnish the money to make the

book, and pay Osgood a percentage for handling it. It was, in fact,

the beginning of Mark Twain's adventures as a publisher.

Howells was not as happy in Florence as he had hoped to be. The

social life there overwhelmed him. In February he wrote: "Our two

months in Florence have been the most ridiculous time that ever even

half-witted people passed. We have spent them in chasing round

after people for whom we cared nothing, and being chased by them.

My story isn't finished yet, and what part of it is done bears the

fatal marks of haste and distraction. Of course, I haven't put pen

to paper yet on the play. I wring my hands and beat my breast when

I think of how these weeks have been wasted; and how I have been

forced to waste them by the infernal social circumstances from which

I couldn't escape."

Clemens, now free from the burden of his own book, was light of

heart and full of ideas and news; also of sympathy and appreciation.

Howells's story of this time was "A Woman's Reason." Governor

Jewell, of this letter, was Marshall Jewell, Governor of Connecticut

616

The Letters Of Mark Twain, Complete