My Mark Twain Chapter 12

In which the narrator recalls an evening enlivened by Mark Twain's robust appetite and inexhaustible cigar smoking, revealing his fondness for long walks and his resistance to the Cambridge literary circle's more fastidious approval. The narrative then turns to a more intimate moment when Twain entrusts the manuscript of *Tom Sawyer* to the narrator, seeking sincere critique amid hesitations that reflect both his own and his wife's hopes for a gentler reception.