November 15 Sunday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto near Florence Sam finished his Nov. 11 and 12 to H.H.Rogers.
Nov. 15. Just in the edge of the evening of that day (the 12th) Mrs. Clemens got a bad & disabling burn, & is keeping her bed ever since. It was an accident, & not her fault. It will not be well soon.
She had one of those (breathless) bad turns day before yesterday—the first for 2 or 3 months—& was very despondent for a while, but she had cheered up & assumed hope again.
I hope Mr. Gardiner will buy the Tarrytown house. It he does, I shall want to apply some of the money to paying Bliss off in cash & ridding myself of that debt. He would probably knock off some of it for the sake of getting a lump sum to use in his business.
And I shall want to keep the rest of the money in bank & ready for use in case the Harpers should at any time fail to “put up” on their monthly instalment.
We hope you are all well & satisfied with life & Tammany, & I hope Harry is not over-working himself [MTHHR 541-2]. Note: Charles A. Gardiner leased the Tarrytown house and would purchase it.
Sam’s notebook: “Mr. Smith 4 p.m.” [NB 46 TS 30]. Note: George Gregory Smith.
Mary Elizabeth Phillips wrote to Sam, that Sue Crane had given her “countenance to further pursue” him for his “real name autograph on a special print I have made from your Rockwood negative” [MTP].