d.

In a letter to her daughter written from here she says: "My plans are
vague. The years ahead of me seem like large empty rooms, with high
ceilings and echoes. Not gay, say you, but I was never one for gaiety
much--and I may discover a certain grandeur in the emptiness."

When at last her strength seemed equal to the long journey, she once
more turned her face towards the setting sun, and beautiful
California. On the way a flying stop was made in Indiana to see
relatives and friends of her girlhood. Speaking of them she says, "I
saw my old friends, the Fletchers. They came to see me in droves, and
it was strange to see them old men and women, talking of their
grandchildren. It seems so difficult to realize that one's self is
old; indeed, I don't believe I ever shall." While in Indianapolis she
met for the first time her distinguished compatriot, James Whitcomb
Riley, who afterwards wrote to her recalling the occasion of their
meeting in his own gentle, kindly way. I quote the letter:

"Indianapolis, Christmas, 1900.

"Dear Mrs. Stevenson:

"Since your brief visit here last winter I've been remembering you and
your kindness every day, and in fancy have written down--hundreds of
times--my thanks to you and yours--once, when first well enough to get
down-town, wrapping a photograph for you of the very well man I _used_
to be. Finding the portrait this Christmas morning, I someway think it
good-omenish, and so send you the long-belated thing, together with a
copy of a recent book in which are most affectionally set some old and
some new lines of tribute to the dear man who is just away. How I
loved him through his lovely art! And how I loved all he loved and yet
loves--for with both heart and soul, and tears and smiles, he seems
very near at hand. Therefore my very gentlest greetings on this
blessed day go out to him as to you.

"Fraternally,

"James Whitcomb Riley."[68]

[Footnote 68: Quoted by courtesy of Mr. Edmund Eitel,
nephew of Mr. Riley.]

Mrs. Stevenson wished to live within sight of the Pacific Ocean, so
she purchased a lot at the corner of Hyde and Lombard Streets, on the
very top of one of San Francisco's famous hills, and at once began the
building of her house, living meanwhile for a time on Belvedere Island
and later at 2751 Broadway. The creation of a new thing--whether it
might be a dress, a surprise