off the fly-leaf.

Sargent was down again and painted a portrait of me walking about in my
own dining-room, in my own velveteen jacket, and twisting as I go my own
moustache; at one corner a glimpse of my wife, in an Indian dress, and
seated in a chair that was once my grandfather's, but since some months
goes by the name of Henry James's--for it was there the novelist loved
to sit--adds a touch of poesy and comicality. It is, I think, excellent,
but is too eccentric to be exhibited. I am at one extreme corner; my
wife, in this wild dress, and looking like a ghost, is at the extreme
other end; between us an open door exhibits my palatial entrance hall
and a part of my respected staircase. All this is touched in lovely,
with that witty touch of Sargent's; but, of course, it looks dam queer
as a whole.

Pray let me hear from you, and give me good news of yourself and your
wife, to whom please remember me.--Yours most sincerely, my dear Low,

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.

TO W. E. HENLEY

_Prince Otto_ was published in October of this year; and the
following refers to two reviews of it--one of them by Mr. Henley,
which to the writer's displeasure had been pruned by the editor
before printing; the other by a writer in the Saturday Review who
declared that Otto was "a fool and a wittol," and could see nothing
but false style in the story of Seraphina's flight through the
forest.

_[Skerryvore, Bournemouth, Autumn 1885.]_

DEAR LAD,--If there was any more praise in what you wrote, I think [the
editor] has done us both a service; some of it stops my throat. What, it
would not have been the same if Dumas or Musset had done it, would it
not? Well, no, I do not think it would, do you know, now; I am really of
opinion it would not; and a dam good job too. Why, think what Musset
would have made of Otto! Think how gallantly Dumas would have carried
his crowd through! And whatever you do, don't quarrel with ----. It
gives me much pleasure to see your work there; I think you do yourself
great justice in that field; and I would let no annoyance, petty or
justifiable, debar me from such a market. I think you do good there.
Whether (considering our intimate relations) you would not do better to
refrain from reviewing me, I will leave to yourself: were it all on my
side, you could foresee my answer; but there is your side also, where
you must be the judge.

As for the Saturday. Otto is no "fool