February 29 Saturday – At the Princess Hotel in Hamilton, Bermuda Sam began a letter to daughter Clara that he added a PS to on Mar. 2.
Clara dear, there is nothing to report. Everything goes well & satisfactorily, therefore plan- making has not begun. It will not begin until Mr. Rogers becomes restless. He is in better condition than he was in when he left New York, & if he remains contented he will go on improving I think. He & Miss Lyon are very good pals, & Miss Wallace is another one. Benjamin is good company. Take it altogether, Mr. Rogers is well situated, as to the main requirement, which is cheerful & frivolous surroundings; the next requirement is pleasant & sunny weather. Thus far the weather has not been of high quality, but an improvement is promised. Ever yours …. [MTP]. Note: see Mar. 2 for PS.
Sam also inscribed a copy of Eve’s Diary to Irene Gerken: “To / Miss Irene Gerken / with the affectionate regards of / The Author. / Bermuda, Feb. 29, 1908. / Let us save the to-morrows for work / Truly Yours / Mark Twain” [MTP].
Isabel Lyon’s journal: The best of all the lovely chaffing day was the evening when we went to the King’s room after dinner & he read some Kipling poems to us. “The Bolivar”, “Soldier & Sailor Too” (so full of unapproachable words) “The Mary Gloster” & “McAndrew’s Prayer.”
We went from shouting joys to tears over the beauties, the perfections of that magician; & for Kipling to be able to hear the King read those verses might be solace to him for the loss of his dear little girl Josephine.
Oh the comings into our lives of sweet women & strong men who stay with us for a swift moment—then go. They bring a pungent joy, & a fearful one, for we know they come, only to go again. A woman came down on the ship; a woman with red hair & a tall slim figure, & a cleft in her chin and lovely eyes. She was the only woman I saw & I was drawn to her. This morning she stopped at our breakfast table to say she was starting for Nassau, & to give me a beautiful message. She was like Eulabie Dix who came like a burst of sunshine & love to us & then flew away to St. Louis to ponder on what may be marriage for her.
Today Elizabeth Wallace & I went up to Madam la Belge to buy more lace & after luncheon we drove to a little Devonshire Church, & went into the grave yard to make photographs of the giant, ancient dying cedar that has been standing for generations guarding the quaint small church, & the dead, lying under simple slabs. When we came home we had tea & Mrs. Peck joined us. She & Sorellatua talked in French all the time. It was a delight. Professor Ferguson & Mrs. F. & Miss F. are here [MTP: IVL TS 28-29].
D. Hoffman writes of “the mysterious” Mary Allen Hulbert Peck and of some of Sam’s activities on Feb. 29:
Another person who raised eyebrows, especially those of Miss Lyon and Miss Wallace, was the mysterious Mrs. Peck. At first, Miss Lyon simply recorded that she regularly wintered in Bermuda and called herself a “hardy annual.” But soon she wrote that Mrs. Peck was “a bewitching woman, and a snare for men folk.” People on the Islands, she added, “think she is not sincere.” Miss Wallace, more reserved, reported that no husband was in sight, and “there was a little restless look of unfulfilment about her eyes and mouth that gave grounds for romantic speculation.” They watched Mrs. Peck when she appeared at the hotel for tea on February 29 and conversed with a friend all the while in French. Clemens spent part of the day entertaining Irene. He gave her [above] an inscribed copy of Eve’s Diary, which he had lovingly written after the loss of his wife. That evening, lying on his bed and still wearing his white suit, he read aloud from the narrative poems of Kipling, who had just won the Nobel Prize. As he read “Mary Gloster,” Miss Wallace and Miss Lyon broke into tears [107]. Note: Elizabeth Wallace wrote in her memoirs that Mrs. Peck possessed “a little restless look of unfulfilment about her eyes and mouth that gave grounds for romantic speculation” [ibid].
Charles P. DeLaittre wrote from Aitkin, Minn. to ask Sam if one Clarence H. Mackay of NYC was authorized to receive funds for the Lincoln Farm Assoc. [MTP].