February 20 Monday – In Florence, Sam wrote to Katherine C. Bronson (1834-1901), wealthy New Yorker, and a central figure in Venetian society; also related to Thomas DeKay Winans. In 1879-80 she hosted such luminaries as Henry James, James McNeill Whistler, Robert Browning, and John Singer Sargent. She also had an intimate friendship with Robert Browning after the death of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Mrs. Clemens sends her best bow & thanks with mine for your steadfast kindness in regard to the glass. I shall drop Moses of the Tower a line & propose as you suggest.

I shall drop Mr. Forbes a line, too, & ask him to waive rank & call on me as soon as I get a chance I will pay back in kind. …

Mrs. Clemens’s health is not improving, I am sorry to say, but the rest of us are without ailments.

With my best regards to you & to Miss Bronson [MTP].

Note: Katherine Bronson’s daughter, Edith, was later Countess Rucellai. On Mar. 12 Sam wrote daughter Clara, “Mamma has secured her set of old Venetian table-glass & is very glad:” — no doubt the glass referred to here, Moses of the Tower being a dealer in Venice.