September 24 Wednesday – In York Harbor, Maine Sam wrote to William Dean Howells.
I go on my knees to Mildred—I let her go away without accompanying her to her car, & without explaining to her that I was on sentinel duty & could not leave my post. My head was all gone & upside down—I could not think of anything; of anything but the swift disaster which we believed was hanging over our heads & ready to crush us at any moment. Life is purgatory at all times, & a swindle & a crime—yesterday it was hell. To-day there is a relenting; the Boston specialist has cheered every one up. The impossible has happened: Mrs. Clemens has received the professional nurse with favor. The family are banished—yet the patient is reconciled [MTHL 2: 744-5]. Note: Sam misdated this Sept. 23; see source n1. The visit of Mildred Howells was likely sometime within the past few days.
Sam also wrote a progress report on Livy’s condition to H.H. Rogers.
Your letter is infinitely touching, & I am grateful beyond any words. I wrote you a note last night which was gloomy, & there was cause. We believed that the end was very close at hand. Mrs. Clemens is only a shadow now, & she seemed past the rallying point. Nothing escapes her, even when there is apparently no light in her eyes, & she discovered our alarm & hunted it home, questioning the witnesses one a time; & out of their tangle of lies extracting the truth, to the last detail. She saw that there was no one about her with any real courage left, except Katy. She lay & mediated long upon the situation—two or three hours—then her mind was made up, & she said “I intend to get well,” & dismissed the subject. Meantime I had been flying about York Harbor & caught one New York physician of note & started him out, & telephoned Boston for another. The New York doctor raised the chances & did good. This morning the Boston one said (I privately asked him to tell me the square truth & not spare me) “I at present see no reason at all that she should not build up & get as well as she was before.”
I improved on this report a little & the effect upon the patient was fine.
A professional nurse has arrived from Boston, & the impossible has happened: Mrs. Clemens has received her with favor. We have been banished, & Mrs. Clemens accepts it.
Our difficulty has been, that Mrs. Clemens has remained what she always was: boss. Her long-headed intelligence & wisdom (& strong character) have kept the place for her in spite of her physical helplessness, & we weaklings have done as was our life-long habit—succumbed; we were never taught anything else. She has bossed the 4 doctors just the same, & made them do her way. But not the two new ones—the specialists: they have character, they have reputation, they require obedience, & she has promised it. She is able to recognize merit & masculinity when she sees them, & defer to their authority.
We shall be here weeks yet.
Yes, a considerable factor in this heart-attack & its allies, was worry. But when I found it was about the Tarrytown house I modified it a good deal, I think. I showed her an offer of $50,000 for it, & told her I had replied that we preferred to keep the place & were not in the market. Fortunately, she has not worried very much over the disastrous & unexpected detail that the Hartford house doesn’t sell—no, I do that worrying myself. The Tarrytown place will hold its value—but the Hartford one doesn’t seem to have any to hold.
I hope I can soon get permission to show Mrs. Clemens your letter—it should be good for heart disease, I think. I will send this to New York & Miss Harrison will know whether to forward it or retain it [MTHHR 508-9].
Notes: n4 of source identifies the new nurse as Miss Gourangé; Clara fired her six days later. The next nurse, Margaret Garrety, was hired Sept. 29 and fired less than a month later.