Been expecting you & Mrs. A, all this time—you said you were going to make your New York journey soon. However, I didn’t write & hurry you, because I was hard at work from morning till night on my book every day, & moreover Mrs. Clemens was not half well enough to have guests. I finished the book yesterday, & we start to-day for an indefinite rest home-visit to Elmira, N.Y.—Mrs. Clemens’s feebleness & wretched health imperatively demanding rest & change.

This is why I didn’t ever write to hurry you along & keep you reminded of the agreement. But we hope to return in good trim before long, & then you must good make the contract good.