November 24 Tuesday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto near Florence Sam wrote to Daniel Willard Fiske.
It was fine to hear by your own hand that you had turned the corner. Let us soon see you back, & see you here. Mr. Clemens does hereby officially invite you to tea, said invitation to have force & effect on all days, be they wet or be they dry.
Yes indeed, the Gregory Smith’s & their Thomas have been everything to us—without their ever-ready & efficient help we we should have had a difficult time, sure.
We are getting settled, & Mrs. Clemens is going to make good progress here. She is out in the sun, now, taking a walk in her wheel-chair. She sends love—& so do all of us [MTP].
R.G. Busaceal wrote to either Clara or Jean: “I dare not write to your father, but I hope you will be so kind as to speak to him for me. I am a great admirer of Mark Twain and should like very much to translate something of his in Italian. But I am afraid American humour is very difficult, if not impossible to translate. Will you be so kind as to ask your father which of his works he thinks I might try without being too sure of a failure?” [MTP].