Albert Bigelow Paine

“ I like the Joan of Arc best of all my books; and it is the best; I know it perfectly well, and, besides, it furnished me seven times the pleasure afforded me by any of the others; twelve years of preparation and two years of writing. ”

“ Autumn found the family in Vienna, located for the winter at the Hôtel Métropole. Mrs. Clemens realized that her daughters must no longer be deprived of social and artistic advantages. For herself, she longed only for retirement.
Vienna is always a gay city, a center of art and culture and splendid social functions. From the moment of his arrival, Mark Twain and his family were in the midst of affairs. Their room at the Métropole became an assembling-place for distinguished members of the several circles that go to make up the dazzling Viennese life. ”