Accounts of Twain's lectures and readings that I've read mention his frequent mumblings, and Twain mentions how much he admired Dickens for dramatizing his characters in his readings. In the recording by William Gillette, he does at least one good "stage mumble" for effect and when voicing the words of the characters he gives them different inflections and accents. This hardly proves that Twain did likewise given the forty year span between the impersonation Twain heard and the recording, but WG is the closest we have with any kind of stamp of approval from Twain himself, followed by HH who was blessed personally by Clara. If you watch HH's 1960s TV performance it's a little disappointing compared to what he does now. Like a good wine... Kevin Mac Donnell Austin TX