PREFACE I HAVE been asked to write a preface to this little book. This would seem a work of supererogation unless it were to point out that it is as it were a chance record, and therefore in some respects the more valuable, of the character of Robert Louis Stevenson. Slight as is the sketch of him, a more attractive portrait of(a man of genius, whose end and aim was to promote the happiness of his fellow-creatures, has in my poor judgment seldom been presented to us. In the frontispiece I recognise at once the commanding figure of my old friend standing by his horse. The last words I had from him reached me |