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The American Claimant

Mark Twain

This comedy of mistaken identities follows an American colonel who discovers he's heir to a British earldom, while a British viscount journeys to America seeking to renounce his aristocracy and live as an ordinary man.

"The American Claimant" by Mark Twain is a novel. This comedy of mistaken identities follows an American colonel who discovers he's heir to a British earldom, while a British viscount journeys to America seeking to renounce his aristocracy and live as an ordinary man.

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It is a matchless morning in rural England. On a fair hill we see a majestic pile, the ivied walls and towers of Cholmondeley Castle, huge relic and witness of the baronial grandeurs of the Middle Ages. This is one of the seats of the Earl of Rossmore, K. G. G. C. B. K. C. M. G., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., who possesses twenty-two thousand acres of English land, owns a parish in London with two thousand houses on its lease-roll, and struggles comfortably along on an income of two hundred thousand pounds a year. The father and founder of this proud old line was William the Conqueror his very self; the mother of it was not inventoried in history by name, she being merely a random episode and inconsequential, like the tanner’s daughter of Falaise.

Contents

  1. 01Chapter I.
  2. 02Chapter II.
  3. 03“He was constructing what seemed to be some kind of frail mechanical toy.”
  4. 04Chapter III.
  5. 05“It must try your patience pretty sharply sometimes.”
  6. 06Chapter IV.
  7. 07One-armed Pete
  8. 08Chapter V.
  9. 09“Father, I am going to shake hands with Major Hawkins.”
  10. 10Chapter VI.
  11. 11Chapter VII.
  12. 12“Must he go down in his spectral night dress?”
  13. 13Chapter VIII.
  14. 14Chapter IX.
  15. 15“Clah to goodness it’s de fust time I’ve sot eyes on ’em.”
  16. 16Chapter X.
  17. 17Parker, assistant editor of the Democrat
  18. 18Chapter XI.
  19. 19“How do you do?”
  20. 20Chapter XII.
  21. 21“Both were so paralyzed with joy.”
  22. 22Chapter XIII.
  23. 23“It had already happened.”
  24. 24Chapter XIV.
  25. 25“His thoughts had been far away from these things.”
  26. 26“Fool or no fool, he would grab it.”
  27. 27Chapter XV.
  28. 28Chapter XVI.
  29. 29“No. 5 started a laugh.”
  30. 30Capt. Saltmarsh and brother of the brush
  31. 31Chapter XVII.
  32. 32Chapter XVIII.
  33. 33Wasted sewer gas
  34. 34“Eastward with that great light transfiguring their faces.”
  35. 35Chapter XIX.
  36. 36Chapter XX.
  37. 37It was a violent case of mutual love at first sight
  38. 38Chapter XXI.
  39. 39“Time dragged heavily for both, now.”
  40. 40“Oh, my God, she’s kissing it!”
  41. 41Chapter XXII.
  42. 42“The shady devil had knifed her.”
  43. 43Chapter XXIII.
  44. 44“You an earl’s son! Show me the signs.”
  45. 45Chapter XXIV.
  46. 46Chapter XXV.
  47. 47“My father!”
  48. 48“Finally there was a quiet wedding at the Towers.”
  49. 49Appendix.

About this edition

Author
Mark Twain
Era
Modern (c. 1800–1945)
Reading level
Intermediate: some philosophy helps
Formats
EPUB, PDF
Length
225 pages
This edition
Modern Philosophers