October 25 Thursday – Sam and Livy arrived in New York at the Murray Hill Hotel. The Cranes arrived in the city at 9:30 p.m. Afterward, Sam wrote to Grace E. King, who stayed at the Clemens home, judging by Sam’s admonition for her to “hide Jean’s candy till we come — it will save her from sin.” King had arrived at the Clemens’ home on Oct 10. Theodore Crane was consulting doctors in New York; Livy was visiting her sister Susan L. Crane while Sam wrote.

This is to require you to understand that you can’t count-in the time we are absent as a part of your visit. No, we allow nothing for intervals of this sort — they have to be made up. The visit has to be extended to cover them & make full count [MTP].

Note: King’s fall 1888 visit with the Clemenses lasted from Oct. 10 to Nov. 12, 1888; she then stayed three more weeks with the Charles Dudley Warner family [MTNJ 3: 396; 434n90].