Someone has appeared in the course of my research, about whom I can find little information. Paine writes that MT had a "good friend" named George Gregory Smith who lived in Florence. I suspect Smith is the "Florence friend" whom MT says Clara wrote to in 1903 about finding the Clemenses a villa there. The Mark Twain Project online database shows one letter to GGS on 12/21/03 (no surviving letter from Clara to GGS circa Spring '03), and 17 letters from GGS ranging from 9/03 to 6/04. With nothing predating 1903, from whence did GGS so suddenly appear? Who is he? What was his interest in Florence? Did MT befriend him in Florence in the '90s, but only start corresponding with him when a need arose? Or are the interim letters simply missing? Can anyone supply further information about this "mystery man"? Thanks and regards, Mary Leah Christmas