Part 5 (1/2)

One of the last h that distinctly re into theof Messrs Douglas & Foulis in Castle Street on a grey, east windy day that was cold enough to reat-coat necessary But he was visibly shi+vering in one of his favourite short velvet coats It was palpably too short in the ar hair fell almost to his shoulders, and he wore a Tyrolese hat of soft felt With a whiar Princes Street; so we set off ards together, when, so char before we reached the doorsteps of his relative's house, which was otten that the as in the east, and the sky greyer than the paveain, that he ht talk all the way These eccentricities of attire were merely a part of the rather attractive vanity of a clever youth, whose exuberance of spirits was, in spite of reat that he was oftenIn later life he gradually modified his ideas as to dress, and in the _Vaili to Apia to social amuse parties he always looked like a martyr in the dismal black coat and white tie, which he described as aof an undertaker At dances, he propped hie about the staircase, looking limp and miserable, but keenly observant all the tienial soul, whether htened, the limpness vanished, and his quick floit and fancy strearave and gay with equal ease, and was exactly what a poet describes, as--

'His talk was like a streae from rocks to roses, It skipped from politics to puns, It passed fro with the laws that keep The planets in their rapid courses, And ending with a precept deep For stewing eels or shoeing horses'

Although he looked so unhappy at dances or 'at houests were fitly chosen, he was thoroughly at his ease and exceedingly a With his few intieneral society he was usually as bored as he looked

The Edinburgh of that day was very pleasant socially Its world seemed somewhat smaller than it is now, less ostentatiously rich, more seriously cultured; or so at least it appeared to the young folk who belonged to the old-fashi+oned law and professional set in which the Stevensons largely had their acquaintance People in that set still lived, more than they do to-day, eastwards or northwards of Heriot Row, in the large old houses which were so horand grey houses from Heriot Roards to Charlotte Square, ards to Randolph Cliff and a little way over the Dean Bridge Druent, and Carlton, that 'west end of the east,' were still fashi+onable, and few people had, as yet, side, Where houses girt with gardens Do stretch down far and wide'

It was not a very large world, but it was a very agreeable one, and one which had its notabilities Lord Neaves with his delightful songs, and the other old-ties were still with us Sir David Brewster was not so very long dead; Sir James Y Simpson was yet a very recent memory

Professor Blackie was in the zenith of his fame Sir Daniel Macnee told his wonderful stories; Professor, now Sir, Douglas Maclagan sang his delightful songs Mr Sa the artists, and Sir R Christison, and Syh medical world fa-Jenkin--in whose theatricals R L

Stevenson took a picturesque part--and a host of other well-known nauests at dinners, and most beloved personality of all, perhaps, Dr John Brown, accoe , or left wonderful scraps of drawings on the hall tables as he passed out fro a patient And everywhere in that pleasant world the Stevenson fa people who are now in turn taking the busy work of life, fro for ever, parties at 17 Heriot Row and at Swanston werepeople were not then so coiven by Mr and Mrs Thouests were carefully chosen, and lieneral And how a that conversation was! The humour of father and son as they drew each other out onderful, they capped each other's good things, and soifted folk shi+ne in the conversation also in a way peculiar to them and which was fully shared by Mrs Tho of hostesses Father and son on these occasions were siuu definite of those clever sayings of theirs seems to return to one; it is only, as it were, the memory of an aroma that filled the air sweetly at the time, and is still faintly present with one that remains; the actual 'bon- to find that Mr Edhtfully of his friend Louis Stevenson, notes the saible character of his talk

After the little dinners there were delightful inforhbours cauests, and one can still remember with a s his unwilling son to dance the old-tier de Coverley,' which the elder er professed to scorn even while he entered with a zeal that finally satisfied his father into the perfor at 17 Heriot Row

Music, too, was a pleasant feature of those little parties, and one still recalls, especially, the songs and the lovely voice of a favourite niece of Mrs Stevenson, whose early death made the first break in the ho away of all save one of that happy household Even now, after the lapse of so erly forward as she sang such sweet old songs as 'My Mother bids me bind my Hair,' and 'She wore a wreath of Roses,' or Robert Louis applauding his favourites, 'I shot an Arrow into the Air,' and 'The Sea hath its Pearls'

On one occasion one of thesejapanese engineer students, ere on tour in Edinburgh, and who had brought introductions to the distinguished engineer, who made them very cordially welcome It was not then very co aruests greatly

CHAPTER VI

HIS CHOICE OF A LITERARY LIFE AND HIS EARLIER BOOKS

'A clerk foredoom'd his father's soul to cross, Who pens a stanza when he should engross'

--POPE'S _Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot_

His son's refusal to becoineer, and to take his natural position in the fareat trial to a man of Mr Thomas Stevenson's character and professional traditions That business had in it not only wealth, honour, and success, but, to every Stevenson, the glamour of romance, the fascination of adventure, and to the father his firly Therefore the blow that fell upon hi that e to confess to him that he could not persevere in the traditional path which he was expected to tread,one, and it said th of his fatherly affection that he received it as he did It was a painful decision for the son to make, and an equally painful one for the parents to hear

Mrs Thomas Stevenson as well as her husband felt it a keen disappointment that her son could not walk in his father's footsteps To them, as to all parents of their position and very natural social prejudices, it see for ahis daily bread The Edinburgh of that day did not think h the h Reviewers,' and the literary lights of an earlier tih a few authors had garly trade at the best, and one to which no wise man would apprentice his son

Only those who knew the elder Mr Stevenson's nature well could fully understand how great a trial to him was his son's decision; and only those very near and dear to him could quite appreciate the depth of the father's love, the tenderness of the father's heart, which per, to darken his relations with his son or to lessen in the slightest his overwhel affection for him Sensitive in the extreme, the son in his turn could not fail to feel his father's disappointerate its effect on the older man in his own tender-hearted remorse that he was unable to fulfil his destiny in any other way than by following literature, which was calling hiood, therefore, to hear from the lips of the wife and mother, as so fully in the confidence of both, that no abiding cloud remained between the father and the son, and that both quietly accepted the inevitable when law, like engineering, was also laid aside to allow Louis to fulfil his one strong desire Lovingly and unselfishly the parents finally accepted the fact that genius must have its way, and that in the dainty book lined study, in travel by ways quaint and unusual, in prolonged sojourns in search of health in distant lands, the younger Stevenson's life-as to be done

When he found that his son would not be an engineer, Mr Thomas Stevenson very naturally wished him to have a profession to fall back upon should literature not prove a success, and it was agreed that he should read for the Bar Louis, therefore, about the end of 1871, entered the office of the firm which is non as Messrs Skene, Edwards, & Garson, WS

The late Mr Skene, LLD, was then senior partner of the firm Another partner was the father of Mr J R P Edwards, who has kindly supplied the following very interesting facts about Robert Louis Stevenson while he was undergoing his legal training in his office

'Mr Stevenson entered the office, which was then in 18 Hill Street, in 1871, and left it about the middle of the year 1873, and was afterwards called to the Bar His position in the office was neither that of a clerk nor of an apprentice, but e of business He never received any salary, and, as is usual with aspirants for the Bar, his position was in no way subject to the ordinary office discipline After searching through papers which ritten in the office during the tiood many papers which ritten by him, but they are all merely copies of documents, and I can find no trace of any deeds which were actually drawn up by him This is no doubt accounted for, firstly, because he was not experienced enough in the drafting of deeds, and, secondly, because he , which are for the n to his ination

'I have not been able to trace any of the staff of the office ere in it with Robert Louis Stevenson, with the exception of two men, who seem to remember little about him, but they said that he was very reserved and kept very much to hireat Stevenson The other man, however, said that he remembered that Stevenson had, as he described it to me, ”an awful notion of the Pentland hills, and was that fond of talking about the pieces of writing on odd pieces of paper in his spare moments, but, unfortunately, I can find no trace of these; but that is not to be wondered at, as the firm have removed to two different houses since Stevenson was in the office

'Mr Skene, as head partner of the fir the tireat ads, and shortly before his (Mr Skene's) death he said that it was a great regret to hinised in hiood deala very shy and nervous man, or rather, as he then was, a boy My father also states that Stevenson was a tremendous walker, and that he used often to co in the soood many miles before breakfast'