uld accept a gift of Webster's _Unabridged_.
I went out to him and signified a manly willingness to accept a gift of
anything. He stood and bowed before me, his eyes danced with excitement.
"Mr. Stevenson," he said and his voice trembled, "your name is very well
known to me. I have been in the publishing line in Canada and I have
handled many of your works for the trade." "Come," I said, "here's
genuine appreciation."

From this gaudy scene we descended into the hotel boat with our new
second cousin, got to horse and returned to Vailima, passing shot of
Kodak once more on the Nulivae bridge, where the little Jew was posted
with his little Jew wife, each about three feet six in stature and as
vulgar as a lodging house clock.

We were just writing this when another passenger from the ship arrived
up here at Vailima. This is a nice quiet simple blue-eyed little boy of
Pennsylvania Quaker folk. Threatened with consumption of my sort, he has
been sent here by his doctor on the strength of my case. I am sure if
the case be really parallel he could not have been better done by. As we
had a roast pig for dinner we kept him for that meal; and the rain
coming on just when the moon should have risen kept him again for the
night. So you see it is now to-morrow.

Graham Balfour the new cousin and Lloyd are away with Clark the
Missionary on a school inspecting _malaga_, really perhaps the prettiest
little bit of opera in real life that can be seen, and made all the
prettier by the actors being children. I have come to a collapse this
morning on D.B.: wrote a chapter one way, half re-copied it in another,
and now stand halting between the two like Buridan's donkey. These sorts
of cruces always are to me the most insoluble, and I should not wonder
if D.B. stuck there for a week or two. This is a bother, for I
understand McClure talks of beginning serial publication in December. If
this could be managed, what with D.B., the apparent success of _The
Wrecker_, _Falesa_, and some little pickings from _Across the
Plains_--not to mention, as quite hopeless, _The History of Samoa_--this
should be rather a profitable year, as it must be owned it has been
rather a busy one. The trouble is, if I miss the December publication,
it may take the devil and all of a time to start another syndicate. I am
really tempted to curse my conscientiousness. If I hadn't recopied Davie
he would now be done and dead and buried; and here I am stuck about the
mi