MY DEAR LOW,-- ... The goods have come; many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.--I have at length finished _The Master_; it has been a sore cross to me; but now he is buried, his body's under hatches,--his soul, if there is any hell to go to, gone to hell; and I forgive him: it is harder to forgive Burlingame for having induced me to begin the publication, or myself for suffering the induction.--Yes, I think Hole has done finely; it will be one of the most adequately illustrated books of our generation; he gets the note, he tells the story--_my_ story: I know only one failure--the Master standing on the beach.--You must have a letter for me at Sydney--till further notice. Remember me to Mrs. Will. H., the godlike sculptor, and any of the faithful. If you want to cease to be a republican, see my little Kaiulani, as she goes through--but she is gone already. You will die a red: I wear the colours of that little royal maiden, _Nous allons chanter a la ronde, si vous voulez!_ only she is not blonde by several chalks, though she is but a half-blood, and the wrong half Edinburgh Scots like mysel'. But, O Low, I love the Polynesian: this civilisation of ours is a dingy, ungentlemanly business; it drops out too much of man, and too much of that the very beauty of the poor beast: who has his beauties in spite of Zola and Co. As usual, here is a whole letter with no news: I am a bloodless, inhuman dog; and no doubt Zola is a better correspondent.--Long live your fine old English admiral--yours, I mean--the U.S.A. one at Samoa; I wept tears and loved myself and mankind when I read of him: he is not too much civilised. And there was Gordon, too; and there are others, beyond question. But if you could live, the only white folk, in a Polynesian village; and drink that warm, light _vin du pays_ of human affection and enjoy that simple dignity of all about you--I will not gush, for I am now in my fortieth year, which seems highly unjust, but there it is, Mr. Low, and the Lord enlighten your affectionate R. L. S. [MRS. R. L. STEVENSON TO SIDNEY COLVIN This letter shows the writer in her character of wise and anxious critic of her husband's work. The result, in the judgment of most of his friends, went far to justify her misgivings. _Honolulu, May 21st, 1889._