of thunder," made by the ghosts of Hendrik
Hudson's men playing at ninepins in the Catskill Mountains.

Then back to San Francisco, where the only memory that remains is that
of a confused blur of preparations for leaving--packing,
ticket-buying, and melancholy farewells--for the time had come to
return to old Scotland to introduce a newly acquired American wife to
waiting parents.

One day Louis came in with his pockets full of twenty-dollar gold
pieces, with which he had supplied himself for the journey. He thought
this piece of money the handsomest coin in the world, and said it made
a man feel rich merely to handle it. In a jesting mood, he drew the
coins from his pockets, threw them on the table, whence they rolled
right and left on the floor, and said: "Just look! I'm simply lousy
wid money!"

Then came the parting, which proved to be eternal, for I never saw him
again; but perhaps it is better to remember him only as he was
then--before the rainbow hues of youth had faded.

To this picture, which represents my own personal recollections of the
California period,[17] something yet remains to be added. Many
obstacles seemed to block the path to happiness of these two people,
not the least of which was Louis's ill health and consequent inability
to earn a sufficient sum to support new obligations. To his great joy
this difficulty was finally smoothed away by a promise from his father
of an allowance large enough for their needs until such time as
restored health might bring about his independence. I remember the day
this word came from his father, and the exceeding happiness it gave
him. While it is true that his parents had at first objected to his
marriage, their objections were based, not on the matter of the
divorce, for they held extremely liberal views on that subject, but
simply on the fact of his choice being an American and a stranger.
They would, quite naturally, have preferred a daughter-in-law of their
own race and acquaintance, but both were intensely attached to their
only and gifted son, and, although his decision caused their own plans
to "gang agley," when they found that his mind was irrevocably made
up, they yielded without reserve, and prepared to welcome their new
daughter to their home and hearts. Writing at this time to his friend
Mr. Edmund Gosse, Stevenson expressed his satisfaction at the turn
affairs were taking in these words:

"Many of the thunderclouds that were overhanging me wh