re in the midst of affairs. Their room at the Metropole became
an assembling-place for distinguished members of the several circles that
go to make up the dazzling Viennese life. Mrs. Clemens, to her sister in
America, once wrote:

"Such funny combinations are here sometimes: one duke, several
counts, several writers, several barons, two princes, newspaper
women, etc."

Mark Twain found himself the literary lion of the Austrian capital.
Every club entertained him and roared with delight at his German
speeches. Wherever he appeared on the streets he was recognized.

"Let him pass! Don't you see it is Herr Mark Twain!" commanded an
officer to a guard who, in the midst of a great assemblage, had presumed
to bar the way.

LIII.

MARK TWAIN PAYS HIS DEBTS

Mark Twain wrote much and well during this period, in spite of his social
life. His article "Concerning the Jews" was written that first winter in
Vienna--a fine piece of special pleading; also the greatest of his short
stories--one of the greatest of all short stories--"The Man that
Corrupted Hadleyburg."

But there were good reasons why he should write better now; his mind was
free of a mighty load--he had paid his debts!

Soon after his arrival in Vienna he had written to Mr. Rogers:

"Let us begin on those debts. I cannot bear the weight any longer.
It totally unfits me for work."

He had accumulated a large sum for the purpose, and the royalties from
the new book were beginning to roll in. Payment of the debts was begun.
At the end of December he wrote again:

"Land, we are glad to see those debts diminishing. For the first
time in my life I am getting more pleasure from paying money out
than from pulling it in."

A few days later he wrote to Howells that he had "turned the corner"; and
again:

"We've lived close to the bone and saved every cent we could, and
there's no undisputed claim now that we can't cash . . . . I
hope you will never get the like of the load saddled on to you that
was saddled on to me, three years ago. And yet there is such a
solid pleasure in paying the things that I reckon it is worth while
to get into that kind of a hobble, after all. Mrs. Clemens gets
millions of delight out of it, and the children have never uttered
one complaint about the scrimping from the beginning."

By the end of January, 1898, Clemens had accumulated enough money to make
the final payments to his