ow. Yet she is entitled to the lion's share."

She improved during the winter, but very slowly. Her husband wrote in
his diary:

"Feb. 2, 1903--Thirty-third wedding anniversary. I was allowed to
see Livy five minutes this morning, in honor of the day."

Mrs. Clemens had always remembered affectionately their winter in
Florence of ten years before, and she now expressed the feeling that if
she were in Florence again she would be better. The doctors approved,
and it was decided that she should be taken there as soon as she was
strong enough to travel. She had so far improved by June that they
journeyed to Elmira, where in the quiet rest of Quarry Farm her strength
returned somewhat and the hope of her recovery was strong.

Mark Twain wrote a story that summer in Elmira, in the little octagonal
study, shut in now by trees and overgrown with vines. "A Dog's Tale," a
pathetic plea against vivisection, was the last story written in the
little retreat that had seen the beginning of "Tom Sawyer" twenty-nine
years before.

There was a feeling that the stay in Europe was this time to be
permanent. On one of the first days of October Clemens wrote in his
note-book:

"To-day I place flowers on Susy's grave--for the last time, probably
--and read the words, 'Good night, dear heart, good night,
good night.'"

They sailed on the 24th, by way of Naples and Genoa, and were presently
installed in the Villa Reale di Quarto, a fine old Italian palace, in an
ancient garden looking out over Florence toward Vallombrosa and the
Chianti hills. It was a beautiful spot, though its aging walls and
cypresses and matted vines gave it a rather mournful look. Mrs.
Clemens's health improved there for a time, in spite of dull, rainy,
depressing weather; so much so that in May, when the warmth and sun came
back, Clemens was driving about the country, seeking a villa that he
might buy for a home.

On one of these days--it was a Sunday in early June, the 5th--when he had
been out with Jean, and had found a villa which he believed would fill
all their requirements, he came home full of enthusiasm and hope, eager
to tell the patient about the discovery. Certainly she seemed better. A
day or two before she had been wheeled out on the terrace to enjoy the
wonder of early Italian summer.

He found her bright and cheerful, anxious to hear all their plans for the
new home. He stayed with her alone through the dinner hour, and their
talk