hey actually asked for
work. Now, at last, I think he may venture to make the journey without
fear, though every step must be made cautiously. I am sure now that he
is on the high road to recovery and health, and I believe his best
medicine will be the meeting with you and his father, for whom he
pines like a child. I have had a sad time through it all, but it has
been worse for you, I know. I am now able to say that all things are
for the best. Louis has come out of this illness a better man than he
was before; not that I did not think him good always, but the
atmosphere of the valley of the shadow is purifying to a true soul;
and though he may be no nearer your hearts than before, I believe you
will take more comfort in your son than you have ever done. I trust
that in about two weeks we shall be able to start, and perhaps in less
time than that. Please remember that my photograph is flattering;
unfortunately all photographs of me are; I can get no other. At the
same time Louis thinks me, and to him I believe I am, the most
beautiful creature in the world. It is because he loves me that he
thinks that, so I am very glad. I do so earnestly hope that you will
like me, but that can only be for what I am to you after you know me,
and I do not want you to be disappointed in the beginning in anything
about me, even in so small a thing as my looks. Your fancy that I may
be a business person is a sad mistake. I am no better in that respect
than Louis, and he has gifts that compensate for any lack. I fear it
is only genius that is allowed to be stupid in ordinary things."

In this letter the natural trepidation with which she looked forward
to the meeting with her husband's parents, divided as they were from
her in race and customs, is evident. She was, as she confessed to some
of her friends, quite terrified at the prospect, especially as
concerned the elder Mr. Stevenson, whose portrait represented a
serious Scotchman with a stern, almost forbidding face, firm mouth,
and long upper lip. Her fear of her mother-in-law was less, for from
her she had had many affectionate and reassuring letters. How utterly
groundless her apprehensions were in this matter we shall see later.

Notwithstanding the uncertainty of the future that lay before them,
they were both exceedingly happy in the fruition of their
long-frustrated plans, and for her it lifted a cloud that had rested
upon her spirits for years. One day in San Francisco, shortly