No letters written between 13 and 23 February 1872 have been found. Presumably Clemens spent most of this period at home in Hartford. After almost three weeks of rest, on 21 February he did travel to Danbury, Connecticut, in order to lecture that evening. The Danbury News (a weekly) reviewed the performance on 28 February:
The lecture on Wednesday night was a failure and a disappointment. The audience went prepared to get a somewhat entertaining sketch of Western life, and material for considerable cachinatory enjoyment. The peculiar awkward appearance of the lecturer and the saddening drawl in his speech were calculated to handsomely bring out his humor, but exerted a depressing influence upon his information, and altogether the evening was so dreadfully tedious, and the humor was so wickedly sparse, that the people became tired, and not a few disgusted. The Opera House was crowded, many of those present coming from out of town, and some of them a distance of fifteen miles with teams.
Mr. Twain is not a beautiful man. His hair is carroty, his gait shambling, and but one of his eyes appeared to be fully alive to the importance of the occasion. He looks like a person who had served long and faithfully in a brick yard without any fore-piece to his cap. (“Mark Twain,” 2)
Although Danbury is only fifty miles south of Hartford, rail service was apparently routed through Norwalk, almost doubling the distance (Appletons’ Hand-Book, 70, 71). Clemens was probably obliged to stay overnight in Danbury, returning to Hartford on 22 February.