14/03/2026 20:53

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to Hall, of his immortal defense of Harriet Shelley, a piece of writingall the more marvelous when we consider the conditions of itsperformance. He took astore-room at 42 East 14th Street, Union Square, and surrounded himselfwith a capable force of assistants. So I went on thinking--mixing it with a smoke in the dressing-room once an hour--until dawn this morning. We step back a moment here.

Clemens occasionally went out to dinner, but very privately. In her childish biography Susy says: Papa had only three days to learn the part in, but still we were all sure that he could do it. The new book progressed amazingly. The bare hotel room, the pine woodwork and pine furniture, loose windows which rattled in the sea-wind.