In 1891 the Hartford house was again closed, this time indefinitely, and the family, now five in number, took up residence in Berlin.  The typesetting-machine and the unfortunate publishing venture were drawing heavily on the family finances at this period, and the cost of the Hartford establishment was too great to be maintained.  During the next three years he was distracted by the financial struggle which ended in April, 1894, with the failure of Charles L. Webster & Co.  Mark Twain now found himself bankrupt, and nearly one hundred thousand dollars in debt.  It had been a losing fight, with this bitter ending always in view; yet during this period of hard, hopeless effort he had written a large portion of the book which of all his works will perhaps survive the longest—­his tender and beautiful story of Joan of Arc.  All his life Joan had been his favorite character in the world’s history, and during those trying months and years of the early nineties—­in Berlin, in Florence, in Paris—­he was conceiving and putting his picture of that gentle girl-warrior into perfect literary form.  It was published in Harper’s Magazine—­anonymously, because, as he said, it would not have been received seriously had it appeared over his own name.  The authorship was presently recognized.  Exquisitely, reverently, as the story was told, it had in it the, touch of quaint and gentle humor which could only have been given to it by Mark Twain.

It was only now and then that Mark Twain lectured during these years.  He had made a reading tour with George W. Cable during the winter of 1884-85, but he abominated the platform, and often vowed he would never appear before an audience again.  Yet, in 1895, when he was sixty years old, he decided to rebuild his fortunes by making a reading tour around the world.  It was not required of him to pay his debts in full.  The creditors were willing to accept fifty per cent. of the liabilities, and had agreed to a settlement on that basis.  But this did not satisfy Mrs. Clemens, and it did not satisfy him.  They decided to pay dollar for dollar.  They sailed for America, and in July, 1895, set out from Elmira on the long trail across land and sea.  Mrs. Clemens, and Clara Clemens, joined this pilgrimage, Susy and Jean Clemens remaining at Elmira with their aunt.  Looking out of the car windows, the travelers saw Susy waving them an adieu.  It was a picture they would long remember.

The reading tour was one of triumph.  High prices and crowded houses prevailed everywhere.  The author-reader visited Australia, New Zealand, India, Ceylon, South Africa, arriving in England, at last, with the money and material which would pay off the heavy burden of debt and make him once more free before the world.  And in that hour of triumph came the heavy blow.  Susy Clemens, never very strong, had been struck down.  The first cable announced her illness.  The mother and Clara sailed at once.  Before they were half-way across the ocean a second cable announced that Susy was dead.  The father had to meet and endure the heartbreak alone; he could not reach America, in time for the burial.  He remained in England, and was joined there by the sorrowing family.