February 16 Tuesday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto Sam wrote to Lady Augustus Gregory.
Dear Lady Gregory: / I wish to thank you for the quaint & beautiful stories, & for remembering us again. It is a time of sorrow for us, & fear; for this remorseless illness has wasted Mrs. Clemens to a shadow in this dreary year & a half of suffering, & there is no cheer in life, no promise, or only a little; & that little only comes & goes, shining out one day to fall into shadow the next. I do not know what life is for.
I hope Mr. Yeats is being well treated in our country; we should try to treat him well if we were there & rid of this heavy weight of distress. We keep him most pleasantly in mind, & you also, & we send our friendliest greetings & good wishes to you both [MTP].
Note: See Gribben 278 under Gregory’s Gods and Fighting Men: The Story of the Tuatha De Danaan and of the Fianna of Ireland. Arranged and Put into English by Lady Gregory (London: 1904). Gribben also mentions Gregory’s incoming to Twain of Feb. 21.
Sam previewed two villas for a possible move. Livy was not improving, and the troubles with the Countess Massiglia, the cavernous and likely drafty Villa di Quarto all led to the search for a new home [Feb. 17 to Duneka].
Sam’s notebook: “Curious dream last night—that our former cook came frightened & said, ‘The Countess has bitten the murderous donkey & it is dead’” [NB 47 TS 6].
Leila Gittings wrote from Florence to Livy, disappointed Livy wasn’t well enough to see her the day before. “How I do appreciate the beautiful pen you sent me by Mr Clemens….Jean and Miss Lyon made it very pleasant for Mary and me, and I was glad to have had a little glimpse of Clara.” She described the boarding house where she was staying [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “This may interest & amuse you. I am so sorry you have had such a bad cold. Use the formaline. It is good.”
Ed Towse for Mercantile Printing, Honolulu, Hawaii, wrote to Sam: “Can you spare the time to tell me about the enclosed? I do not find it in your ‘complete works’” [MTP]. Note: No enclosure is in the file. Sam wrote “Ans” on the letter.