No, Livy darling, don’t pay for the Artistic Homes, but just drop D. Appleton & Co & a line, saying:

“Your bill for Artistic Homes is received, & will receive Mr. Clemens’s attention when he returns, March 1st.”

If they are not satisfied with that, answer no letters & of theirs, & pay no attention to them in any way.

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I have learned my trade at last. I know how to read my stuff. At last I can stand on a platform & do the thing right. I did make ’em shout last night. The blue-jays & the other stuff went booming; & I told about Tom Quartz (Baker’s Cat) for an encore. It is Cable’s fault that I have done inferior reading all this time. He has hogged so much of the platform-time that I have always felt obliged to hurry along at lightning speed in order to keep the performance within bounds; but now I take my own time, & give 25 minutes to pieces which formerly occupied but 15.

If this show were new, I would cut a third of him out of the program. But it isn’t worth while, now.

I am paying Cable $450 a week & expenses. He isn’t worth a penny over $200. He is not a novelty anywhere. He has apparently been in evrery town in the country just about twice; & that is as long often as he is wanted. Especially as he offers his same old stuff all the time—doesn’t prepare himself with untried matter. He is expecting to continue on the program ne platform next winter. He will find a sickly way of making a living. When I am advertised for an new program, it is all new—& his is all old—stuff which he has exploited in that tow town once or twice before.

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Last night I wished I was in front of an English audience—it would have been good to see.

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Goodbye, my darling, kiss those rascals for me—for I love you all.