entitled "Three Aces," I think that would do a fair justice without any
unseemly display. But it is hard to be accused of plagiarism--a crime I
never have committed in my life.
Yrs. Truly
MARK TWAIN.


But this came too late. Aldrich replied that he could not be
prevented from doing him justice, as forty-two thousand copies of
the first note, with the editor's apology duly appended, were
already in press. He would withdraw his apology in the next number
of Every Saturday, if Mark Twain said so. Mark Twain's response
this time assumed the proportions of a letter.


To Thomas Bailey Aldrich, in Boston:

472 DELAWARE ST., BUFFALO, Jan. 28.
DEAR MR. ALDRICH,--No indeed, don't take back the apology! Hang it, I
don't want to abuse a man's civility merely because he gives me the
chance.

I hear a good deal about doing things on the "spur of the moment"
--I invariably regret the things I do on the spur of the moment. That
disclaimer of mine was a case in point. I am ashamed every time I think
of my bursting out before an unconcerned public with that bombastic
pow-wow about burning publishers' letters, and all that sort of imbecility,
and about my not being an imitator, etc. Who would find out that I am a
natural fool if I kept always cool and never let nature come to the
surface? Nobody.