are not up to the mark of _The Bottle Imp_;
but they each have a certain merit, and they fit in style. By saying "a
cue from an old melodrama" after the _B. I._, you can get rid of my
note. If this is in time, it will be splendid, and will make quite a
volume.

Should you and Cassells prefer, you can call the whole volume _I. N.
E._--though the _Beach of Falesa_ is the child of a quite different
inspiration. They all have a queer realism, even the most extravagant,
even the _Isle of Voices_; the manners are exact.

Should they come too late, have them type-written and return to me here
the type-written copies.

_Sunday, Dec 4th._--3rd start,--But now more humbly and with the aid of
an Amanuensis. First one word about page 2. My wife protests against
_The Waif Woman_ and I am instructed to report the same to you.[54]...

_Dec. 5th._--A horrid alarm rises that our October mail was burned
crossing the Plains. If so, you lost a beautiful long letter--I am sure
it was beautiful though I remember nothing about it--and I must say I
think it serves you properly well. That I should continue writing to you
at such length is simply a vicious habit for which I blush. At the same
time, please communicate at once with Charles Baxter whether you have or
have not received a letter posted here Oct. 12th, as he is going to
cable me the fate of my mail.

Now to conclude my news. The German Firm have taken my book like angels,
and the result is that Lloyd and I were down there at dinner on
Saturday, where we partook of fifteen several dishes and eight distinct
forms of intoxicating drink. To the credit of Germany, I must say there
was not a shadow of a headache the next morning. I seem to have done as
well as my neighbours, for I hear one of the clerks expressed the next
morning a gratified surprise that Mr. Stevenson stood his drink so well.
It is a strange thing that any race can still find joy in such athletic
exercises. I may remark in passing that the mail is due and you have had
far more than you deserve.

R. L. S.

TO MRS. FLEEMING JENKIN

_December 5th, 1892._

MY DEAR MRS. JENKIN,--... So much said, I come with guilty speed to
what more immediately concerns myself. Spare us a month or two for old
sake's sake, and make my wife and me happy and proud. We are only
fourteen days from San Francisco, just about a month from Liverpool; we
have our new house almost finished. The thing _can_ be done; I believe