MY DEAR LOW,--We--my mother, my wife, my stepson, my maidservant, and myself, five souls--leave, if all is well, Aug. 20th, per Wilson line s.s. Ludgate Hill. Shall probably evade N. Y. at first, cutting straight to a watering-place: Newport, I believe, its name. Afterwards we shall steal incognito into _la bonne ville_, and see no one but you and the Scribners, if it may be so managed. You must understand I have been very seedy indeed, quite a dead body; and unless the voyage does miracles, I shall have to draw it dam fine. Alas, "The Canoe Speaks" is now out of date; it will figure in my volume of verses now imminent. However, I may find some inspiration some day.--Till very soon, yours ever, R. L. S. TO MISS ADELAIDE BOODLE The lady to whom the following (and much correspondence yet to come) is addressed had been an attached friend of the Skerryvore household and a pupil of Stevenson's in the art of writing. She had given R. L. S. a paper-cutter by way of farewell token at his starting. _Bournemouth, August 19th, 1887._ MY DEAR MISS BOODLE,--I promise you the paper-knife shall go to sea with me; and if it were in my disposal, I should promise it should return with me too. All that you say, I thank you for very much; I thank you for all the pleasantness that you have brought about our house; and I hope the day may come when I shall see you again in poor old Skerryvore, now left to the natives of Canada, or to worse barbarians, if such exist. I am afraid my attempt to jest is rather _a contre-coeur_.--Good-bye--_au revoir_--and do not forget your friend, ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. TO MESSRS. CHATTO AND WINDUS The titles and proofs mentioned in the text are presumably those of _Underwoods_ and _Memories and Portraits_. _Bournemouth_ [_August 1887_]. DEAR SIRS,--I here enclose the two titles. Had you not better send me the bargains to sign? I shall be here till Saturday; and shall have an address in London (which I shall send you) till Monday, when I shall sail. Even if the proofs do not reach you till Monday morning, you could send a clerk from Fenchurch Street Station at 10.23 A.M. for Galleons Station, and he would find me embarking on board the _Ludgate Hill_, Island Berth, Royal Albert Dock. Pray keep this in case it should be necessary to catch this last chance. I am most anxious to have the proofs with me on the voyage.--Yours very truly, ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. FOOTNOTES: [10] Cough. [11] Loose talk. [12] Mr. Charles Morley, at this time manager or assistant-manager of the Pall Mall Gazette. [13] _Princess Casamassima._ [14] Lothian vernacular pronunciation of Cunningham. [15] In _Underwoods_ the lines thus bracketed as doubtful stand with the change: "Life is over; life was gay." [16] _Prince Otto._ [17] The name of the hero in Dostoieffsky's _Le Crime et le Chatiment_. [18] _Suite anglaise._