s of illness, and after one attack of influenza, the old foe
hemorrhage briefly reappeared. Not yet, however, would he own himself
beaten, and in spite of some anxiety on the part of his doctors, he
assured his friends he was very well. His friends' fears were not so
easily silenced. In the last year of his life his bright mood varied,
and his letters often caused grave anxiety to those at home. He had
times of despondency and of undue distress as to his monetary future and
his literary success, which were scarcely justified by the facts.
Although always gentle and gay with his own family circle, the little
strain of worry showed itself repeatedly in his correspondence with his
friends and caused them a keen foreboding of evil, so unlike was it to
the old, sunny, cheery spirit with which he had fought bad health, and
gained for himself so high a place in the world of letters and so warm a
niche in the heart of his public.

CHAPTER XII

HIS DEATH

'Gone to thy rest--no doubt, no fear, no strife;
Men whispering call it death--God calls it life.'
ROBERT RICHARDSON.

As the months of 1894 slipped away, the unusual despondency and worry,
noticeable so especially in Mr Stevenson's correspondence, increased,
while it seemed that his literary work, which had hitherto been his
greatest pleasure, had now become a strain and a weariness to him.

By fits and starts the joy of working still visited him it is true.
_Weir of Hermiston_ he felt to be his very best--St Ives now and then
went gaily. But the dark moods were only dormant not dead, and anxiety
for the future of his family, and a longing to be able to cease working
for daily bread, grew upon him greatly.

That, for a time after the settlement in Samoa, monetary anxieties may
have been somewhat pressing, is not only possible, but probable. No
moving of 'the household gods,' however small, or for however short a
distance, can be managed without considerable cost and trouble, and the
expense invariably exceeds the estimate made, for unforeseen outlays and
difficulties crop up that entail added expenditure with its consequent
anxiety.

If this is so in ordinary cases, how much more would it be so when the
pulling up of stakes meant a move to the antipodes and the change of
home included the purchase of uncleared land in Samoa, the building of a
house and the laying out of an estate, which its owner felt certain
cou