Did Mark Twain meet the Czar?

One of the famous stories Mark Twain writes about in The Innocents Abroad is the meeting of Twain and his fellow excursionists with Czar Alexander II. Is it possible that Twain, who wrote about the event in newspaper accounts, and in his book, didn’t actually make it to the meeting with the Czar?

Twain writes to his mother (26 August, 1867) about the visit to the Czar, in detail. He also signed a letter (26 August, 1867) to ship owner Daniel Leary along with over twenty other passengers, thanking him for arranging the visit to the Czar. These would seem to lend credence to the idea that Twain was present.

And yet, a speech Twain wrote was read to the Czar, although not by Twain. None of the other passenger accounts specifically mention Twain being present, although that doesn’t prove anything as many passengers are not specifically mentioned in those accounts.

However, in 1910, shortly after Mark Twain died, one of Twain’s fellow passengers wrote the following letter to the editor of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

Twain was not a fan of Griswold and his wife, who were fellow passengers 41 years earlier, and its likely Griswold similarly did not like Twain. Here Griswold is stating that Twain went out dancing the night before the visit with the Czar, and returned too late to visit the Czar. He then asked Griswold to take notes from Griswold’s letter, which he then used as the basis for his own letters, and eventually the book. This claim was repeated the following month in a interview the same newspaper did with Griswold (June 5, 1910 – Page 1, Page 2).

But is this true? If so, why would Griswold wait over forty years to tell the story, and specifically wait until Twain could no longer respond? His own wife’s book, written about the journey in 1871, does not mention any passengers missing the visit, and says they started on their way ashore at 10:30am. Is it likely that Twain and seven other passengers would be that late in returning to the ship? It seems there is no positive evidence that Twain visited the Czar, but the negative evidence (the above article) seems weak.