ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON BY GRAHAM BALFOUR IN TWO VOLUMES VOLUME II WITH PORTRAITS NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS Storage Undergraduate Library PR 5493 •B18 1901 Copyright, 1901, by CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS Published October, 1901. THE DEVINNE PRESS TH CHAPTER XI BOURNEMOUTH-1884-87 "This is the study where a smiling God R. L. S. HE next three years Stevenson was to spend in England-the only time he was ever resident in this country-and then Europe was to see him no more. At first sight the chronicle of this time would seem to be more full of interest than any other period of his life. Treasure Island, his "first book," had just been given to the world; the year after his return A Child's Garden of Verses and Prince Otto were published, and Jekyll and Hyde and Kidnapped appeared in the following year. To have written almost any one of these brilliant yet widely dissimilar books would be to challenge the attention of the most distinguished contemporary men of letters; and to meet Stevenson at this time was instantly to acknowledge the quality and charm of the man and the strong fascination of his talk. For the whole of the period he made his home at Bournemouth, within easy reach of London visitors; and in London itself Mr. Colvin (who had now become Keeper of Prints at the British Museum) not only had a house always open to him, but delighted to bring together those who by their own powers were best fitted to appreciate his society. |
