the last pages had been written and read, and the fearful scene at Rouen
had been depicted, Susy wrote in her diary, "To-night Joan of Arc was
burned at the stake!" Meaning that the book was finished.

Susy herself had fine literary taste, and might have written had not her
greater purpose been to sing. There are fragments of her writing that
show the true literary touch. Both Susy and her father cared more for
Joan than for any of the former books. To Mr. Rogers Clemens wrote,
"Possibly the book may not sell, but that is nothing--it was mitten for
love." It was placed serially with "Harper's Magazine" and appeared
anonymously, but the public soon identified the inimitable touch of Mark
Twain.

It was now the spring of 1895, and Mark Twain had decided upon a new plan
to restore his fortunes. Platform work had always paid him well, and
though he disliked it now more than ever, he had resolved upon something
unheard of in that line--nothing less, in fact, than a platform tour
around the world. In May, with the family, he sailed for America, and
after a month or two of rest at Quarry Farm he set out with Mrs. Clemens
and Clara and with his American agent, J. B. Pond, for the Pacific coast.
Susy and Jean remained behind with their aunt at the farm. The travelers
left Elmira at night, and they always remembered the picture of Susy,
standing under the electric light of the railway platform, waving them
good-by.

Mark Twain's tour of the world was a success from the beginning.
Everywhere he was received with splendid honors--in America, in
Australia, in New Zealand, in India, in Ceylon, in South Africa--wherever
he went his welcome was a grand ovation, his theaters and halls were
never large enough to hold his audiences. With the possible exception of
General Grant's long tour in 1878-9 there had hardly been a more gorgeous
progress than Mark Twain's trip around the world. Everywhere they were
overwhelmed with attention and gifts. We cannot begin to tell the story
of that journey here. In "Following the Equator" the author himself
tells it in his own delightful fashion.

From time to time along the way Mark Twain forwarded his accumulated
profits to Mr. Rogers to apply against his debts, and by the time they
sailed from South Africa the sum was large enough to encourage him to
believe that, with the royalties to be derived from the book he would
write of his travels, he might be able to pay in full and so face the
world