November 8 Wednesday – In New York on Webster & Co. letterhead, Sam wrote to Livy. He was glad she’d decided to stay at the Imperial Hotel in Paris as the “landlord knows us and wants us.” He was glad she was sleeping regularly and “stop worrying.” He would send autographs requested by Mrs. Murphy and he would “promptly write Mr. Fisher” for favors done for Livy. He had just received a letter from Susy and was “delighted about her voice,” knowing “its sweetness will return,” but not knowing “whether I want it to be contralto or soprano.” Sam also knew why “Hellion Lançon” called on Livy — “to get a recommend,” which he’d already attended to. After his signature he added a PS:

You don’t owe Charley [Langdon] now — your notes are paid & canceled.

I met Miss French & that dear old Mrs. French on the street the other day. Mrs. French (who is over 80 & blind for 20 years) has had her cataracts removed & now she reads her daughter’s proofs. She remembered Miss French as a slender slip of a girl, & the first thing she said when her sight was restored was, “Why how you’re bloated!” Miss F. is very huge & fleshy, now [MTP]. Note: Alice French (1850-1934); See Gribben 246. French wrote under the pseudonym, “Octave Thanet”; Her novel Expiation (1890), won high praise. Her mother was Francis Wood French.

He also wrote “slowly and cautiously” on Tom Sawyer, Detective [Nov. 10 to Livy]. In the evening Sam dined with Dr. & Mrs. Clarence C. Rice [Nov. 6 to Susy].

Joseph B. Gilder for the Critic wrote a two-sentence note to Sam, that “The price I had in mind was a £1,000,000 Bank Note.” Sam wote on the envelope, “The Mendicant confesses” [MTP].