S L Clemens, Esqr.,—Travelling:

Dear Mark— When you reach Paterson, N. J., you will find, possibly,—probably—an indignant Secretary, who threatens, I think—for his language seems to smell of gunpowder—to complain to you of our course in refusing to give him February 1. As his statements will probably end in an appeal for an abatement of fee, I write now to say—Dont abate; & then to explain the case—as it stands. He thinks there are “inconsistencies” in our correspondence & possibly he thinks so from the fact that we had to be careful to conceal the engagement you promised Troy, Feb 1;—& you forgot that agreement, I guess, when you telegraphed to Paterson about a February date some time since.

Here are the facts:—

Aug 26 We promised them February 1 in these words:—

“Twain—Feb 1, or a date within 2 or 3 days of it. He may insist on closing his list in January. If so, your date wd have to be moved back a little into February January“

On Sept 1 we wrote again:—

“Twain—Feb 1 or thereabout. Presume you noted our remarks about Mark Twain’s date”—in previous letter.

When we made out your book, you had already instructed us to put nothing in February. We therefore did not enter the Paterson date in your book at all, intending—as Fall you remember explained to you previously, to move it back into January.

You went to Albany. There the hero of Troy besieged you, & finaly carried you by assault. You told him that Feb 1 wd do.

Well, Troy had telegraphed for Feb. 8. We telegraphed you. You answered with a “word with a bark to it—No.” Hearing no more from you on Troy we supposed Troy pledged for Feb 1. We wrote to them & found that they had “entered” you on their course & had advertised you for Feb 1. We then wrote to Paterson to change their date. They did not answer us. They wrote you. You know your reply. We wd have been glad to let Paterson have Feb 1, of course; there was no reason why we shd not oblige them if we cd as well as not—or in fact at all; but your promise to Troy, their acceptance & announcement of Feb 1 closed the door agst Paterson.

When the Paterson man therefore wrote to us that you had consented to Feb 1, we simply said you had doubtless forgotten an “arrangement” for that date which you had previously made, & that, owing to it, you cd not come Feb 1. So they change. We did not think it best to explain about Troy—as it was none of their business and it wd only have made them so angry that Troy shd be preferred even altho it had the right of priority.

Now, when you read the correspondence over, in the light of these facts, you will see we did our level best both for Paterson & you. Does Roughing it still go smoothly?