t.
However, I may find some inspiration some day.--Till very soon, yours
ever,

R. L. S.

TO MISS ADELAIDE BOODLE

The lady to whom the following (and much correspondence yet to come)
is addressed had been an attached friend of the Skerryvore household
and a pupil of Stevenson's in the art of writing. She had given R. L.
S. a paper-cutter by way of farewell token at his starting.

_Bournemouth, August 19th, 1887._

MY DEAR MISS BOODLE,--I promise you the paper-knife shall go to sea with
me; and if it were in my disposal, I should promise it should return with
me too. All that you say, I thank you for very much; I thank you for all
the pleasantness that you have brought about our house; and I hope the
day may come when I shall see you again in poor old Skerryvore, now left
to the natives of Canada, or to worse barbarians, if such exist. I am
afraid my attempt to jest is rather _a contre-coeur_.--Good-bye--_au
revoir_--and do not forget your friend,

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.

TO MESSRS. CHATTO AND WINDUS

The titles and proofs mentioned in the text are presumably those of
_Underwoods_ and _Memories and Portraits_.

_Bournemouth_ [_August 1887_].

DEAR SIRS,--I here enclose the two titles. Had you not better send me
the bargains to sign? I shall be here till Saturday; and shall have an
address in London (which I shall send you) till Monday, when I shall
sail. Even if the proofs do not reach you till Monday morning, you could
send a clerk from Fenchurch Street Station at 10.23 A.M. for Galleons
Station, and he would find me embarking on board the _Ludgate Hill_,
Island Berth, Royal Albert Dock. Pray keep this in case it should be
necessary to catch this last chance. I am most anxious to have the
proofs with me on the voyage.--Yours very truly,

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.

FOOTNOTES:

[10] Cough.

[11] Loose talk.

[12] Mr. Charles Morley, at this time manager or assistant-manager of
the Pall Mall Gazette.

[13] _Princess Casamassima._

[14] Lothian vernacular pronunciation of Cunningham.

[15] In _Underwoods_ the lines thus bracketed as doubtful stand with
the change:

"Life is over; life was gay."

[16] _Prince Otto._

[17] The name of the hero in Dostoieffsky's _Le Crime et le Chatiment_.

[18] _Suite anglaise._

[19] As in fact he had, all except the double l.

[20] In _Pendennis_.

IX