ldish eagerness in this.

Remember me most kindly to James, and with all sorts of love to
yourself, believe me, your laddie,

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.

_P.S._--I suppose Mrs. Todd ought to see the paper about her man; judge
of that, and if you think she would not dislike it, buy her one from me,
and let me know. The article is called _Pastoral_, in Longman's Magazine
for April. I will send you the money; I would to-day, but it's the
Sabbie day, and I cannae.

R. L. S.

Remembrances from all here.

TO MRS. FLEEMING JENKIN

The following sets forth the _pros_ and _cons_ which were balancing
each other in his mind in regard to his scheme of going to make a
stand in his own person against agrarian outrage in Ireland.

_[Skerryvore, Bournemouth] April 15 or 16
(the hour not being known), 1887._

MY DEAR MRS. JENKIN,--It is I know not what hour of the night; but I
cannot sleep, have lit the gas, and here goes.

First, all your packet arrived: I have dipped into the Schumann already
with great pleasure. Surely, in what concerns us there is a sweet little
chirrup; the _Good Words_ arrived in the morning just when I needed it,
and the famous notes that I had lost were recovered also in the nick of
time.

And now I am going to bother you with my affairs: premising, first, that
this is _private_; second, that whatever I do the _Life_ shall be done
first, and I am getting on with it well; and third, that I do not quite
know why I consult you, but something tells me you will hear with
fairness.

Here is my problem. The Curtin women are still miserable prisoners; no
one dare buy their farm of them, all the manhood of England and the
world stands aghast before a threat of murder. (1) Now, my work can be
done anywhere; hence I can take up without loss a back-going Irish farm,
and live on, though not (as I had originally written) in it: First
Reason. (2) If I should be killed, there are a good many who would feel
it: writers are so much in the public eye, that a writer being murdered
would attract attention, throw a bull's-eye light upon this cowardly
business: Second Reason. (3) I am not unknown in the States, from which
the funds come that pay for these brutalities: to some faint extent, my
death (if I should be killed) would tell there: Third Reason. (4)
_Nobody else is taking up this obvious and crying duty:_ Fourth Reason.
(5) I have a crazy health and may die at any moment