Hartford, Conn. Oct 30, 1882. My dear Howells,—I do not expect to find you, so I shan’t spend many words on you to wind up in the perdition of some European dead-letter office. I only just want to say that the closing installments of the story are prodigious. All along I was afraid it would be impossible for you to keep up so splendidly to the end; but you were only, I see now, striking eleven. It is in these last chapters that you struck twelve. Go on and write; you can write good books yet, but you can never match this one. And speaking of the book, I inclose something which has been happening here lately.
We have only just arrived at home, and I have not
seen Clark on our matters. I cannot see him
or any one else, until I get my book finished.
The weather turned cold, and we had to rush home, while
I still lacked thirty thousand words. I had
been sick and got delayed. I am going to write
all day and two thirds of the night, until the thing
is done, or break down at it. The spur and burden
of the contract are intolerable to me. I can
endure the irritation of it no longer. I went
to work at nine o’clock yesterday morning, and
went to bed an hour after midnight. Result of
the day, (mainly stolen from books, tho’ credit
given,) 9500 words, so I reduced my burden by one
third in one day. It was five days work in one.
I have nothing more to borrow or steal; the rest must
all be written. It is ten days work, and unless
something breaks, it will be finished in five.
We all send love to you and Mrs. Howells, and all
the family.
Yours
as ever,
Mark.
Again, from Villeneuve, on lake Geneva, Howells wrote urging him this time to spend the winter with them in Florence, where they would write their great American Comedy of ‘Orme’s Motor,’ “which is to enrich us beyond the dreams of avarice.... We could have a lot of fun writing it, and you could go home with some of the good old Etruscan malaria in your bones, instead of the wretched pinch-beck Hartford article that you are suffering from now.... it’s a great opportunity for you. Besides, nobody over there likes you half as well as I do.”
It should be added that ‘Orme’s Motor’ was the provisional title that Clemens and Howells had selected for their comedy, which was to be built, in some measure, at least, around the character, or rather from the peculiarities, of Orion Clemens. The Cable mentioned in Mark Twain’s reply is, of course, George W. Cable, who only a little while before had come up from New Orleans to conquer the North with his wonderful tales and readings.
To W. D. Howells, in Switzerland:
Hartford, Nov. 4th, 1882. My dear Howells,—Yes, it would be profitable for me to do that, because with your society to help me, I should swiftly finish this now apparently interminable book. But I cannot come, because I am not Boss here, and nothing but dynamite can move Mrs. Clemens away from home in the winter season.