few lectures. He provided himself with some stylographic note-books,
by which he could produce two copies of his daily memoranda--one for
himself and one to mail to Mrs. Clemens--and sailed on the Scotia August
21, 1872.

Arriving in Liverpool he took train for London, and presently the
wonderful charm of that old, finished country broke upon him. His "first
hour in England was an hour of delight," he records; "of rapture and
ecstasy. These are the best words I can find, but they are not adequate;
they are not strong enough to convey the feeling which this first
vision of rural England brought me." Then he noticed that the gentleman
opposite in his compartment paid no attention to the scenery, but was
absorbed in a green-covered volume. He was so absorbed in it that,
by and by, Clemens's curiosity was aroused. He shifted his position
a little and his eye caught the title. It was the first volume of the
English edition of The Innocents Abroad. This was gratifying for a
moment; then he remembered that the man had never laughed, never even
smiled during the hour of his steady reading. Clemens recalled what he
had heard of the English lack of humor. He wondered if this was a fair
example of it, and if the man could be really taking seriously every
word he was reading. Clemens could not look at the scenery any more for
watching his fellow-passenger, waiting with a fascinated interest for
the paragraph that would break up that iron-clad solemnity. It did not
come. During all the rest of the trip to London the atmosphere of the
compartment remained heavy with gloom.

He drove to the Langham Hotel, always popular with Americans,
established himself, and went to look up his publishers. He found the
Routledges about to sit down to luncheon in a private room, up-stairs,
in their publishing house. He joined them, and not a soul stirred from
that table again until evening. The Routledges had never heard Mark
Twain talk before, never heard any one talk who in the least resembled
him. Various refreshments were served during the afternoon, came
and went, while this marvelous creature talked on and they listened,
reveling, and wondering if America had any more of that sort at home.
By and by dinner was served; then after a long time, when there was no
further excuse for keeping him there, they took him to the Savage Club,
where there were yet other refreshments and a gathering of the clans
to welcome this new arrival as a being from s