to the Oxford, a
little old inn on George Street, where they were courteously received
and given the whole first floor, without being asked to show their
credentials. The next morning every paper in Sydney had their names on
the front page, and all the clubs, societies, churches, and schools
sent cards to the fine hotel, whose proprietor had to send a messenger
three times a day to the Oxford with a basketful of letters for the
Stevensons. The proprietor, now aware of what he had done, came in
great chagrin to beg them to come back, and offered them the rooms
for half price--for nothing--but they refused; and, besides, they were
too comfortable at the Oxford to be willing to leave. After that,
whenever Mrs. Stevenson went to Sydney she always stayed at the
Oxford, for she was always loyal to those who showed her
consideration.

During their stay in Sydney at this time Mr. Stevenson was so ill that
he was compelled to keep his room, and all thought of a return to
England was now definitely abandoned. Plans were set on foot for
establishing a permanent residence in Samoa, and while Lloyd Osbourne
went to England to bring the furniture from Skerryvore, the Stevensons
returned to Apia and camped in a gate lodge on their place until the
new house should be built.

CHAPTER VIII

THE HAPPY YEARS IN SAMOA.

It was in Samoa that the word "home" first began to have a real
meaning for these gypsy wanderers, lured on as they had been half
round the world in their quest of the will-o'-the-wisp, health. Having
bought the land, which lay on rising ground about three miles from the
town of Apia, it was then necessary to find the money to build a house
on it. After some thought, Mrs. Stevenson suggested that they might
sell Skerryvore in England, and thus turn the one house directly into
the other. As Skerryvore had been a gift to her from her
father-in-law, Louis said, "But this money is yours," and he then said
he would make it all right by leaving her the Samoan place in his
will, which he did, "with all that it contained."

The next thing was to choose a name, and they finally decided upon the
native word Vailima,[34] meaning "five waters," in reference to a
stream fed by four tributaries that ran through the place.

[Footnote 34: Pronounced Vyleema.]

Without more ado they plunged eagerly into the business of clearing
the forest and building their house--a task for which Fanny Stevenson,
by taste and