TuxedoPark,
May 29, ’07. 
Dear admiral,—­Why hang it, I am not going to see you and Mrs. Rogers at all in England!  It is a great disappointment.  I leave there a month from now—­June 29.  No, I shall see you; for by your itinerary you are most likely to come to London June 21st or along there.  So that is very good and satisfactory.  I have declined all engagements but two—­Whitelaw Reid (dinner) June 21, and the Pilgrims (lunch), June 25.  The Oxford ceremony is June 26.  I have paid my return passage in the Minne-something, but it is just possible that I may want to stay in England a week or two longer—­I can’t tell, yet.  I do very much want to meet up with the boys for the last time.

I have signed the contract for the building of the house on my Connecticut farm and specified the cost limit, and work has been begun.  The cost has to all come out of a year’s instalments of Autobiography in the N. A. Review.

Clara, is winning her way to success and distinction with sure and steady strides.  By all accounts she is singing like a bird, and is not afraid on the concert stage any more.

Tuxedo is a charming place; I think it hasn’t its equal anywhere.

Very best wishes to you both. 
                                   S. L. C.

The story of Mark Twain’s extraordinary reception and triumph in England has been told.—­[Mark Twain; A Biography, chaps. cclvi- cclix]—­It was, in fact, the crowning glory of his career.  Perhaps one of the most satisfactory incidents of his sojourn was a dinner given to him by the staff of Punch, in the historic offices at 10 Bouverie Street where no other foreign visitor had been thus honored—­a notable distinction.  When the dinner ended, little joy Agnew, daughter of the chief editor, entered and presented to the chief guest the original drawing of a cartoon by Bernard Partridge, which had appeared on the front page of Punch.  In this picture the presiding genius of the paper is offering to Mark Twain health, long life, and happiness from “The Punch Bowl.”

A short time after his return to America he received a pretty childish letter from little Miss Agnew acknowledging a photograph he had sent her, and giving a list of her pets and occupations.  Such a letter always delighted Mark Twain, and his pleasure in this one is reflected in his reply.

To Miss Joy Agnew, in London: 

TuxedoPark, new York.  Unto you greetings and salutation and worship, you dear, sweet little rightly-named Joy!  I can see you now almost as vividly as I saw you that night when you sat flashing and beaming upon those sombre swallow-tails.

“Fair as a star when only one
Is shining in the sky.”

Oh, you were indeed the only one—­there wasn’t even the remotest chance of competition with you, dear!  Ah, you are a decoration, you little witch!