Chapter I: Preface

When I first set out to tell the life story of Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson, I received the following letter from her old friend Mr. Bruce Porter:

"Once when I urged your sister to set down the incidents of her life she listened, pondered, and then dismissed the suggestion as impossible, as her life had been like a dazed rush on a railroad express, and she despaired of recovering the incidental memories. The years with Stevenson have of course been adequately told, but the earlier period--Indianapolis and California--had a romance as stirring, even if sharpened by the American glare. This sharpness has already, for all of us, begun to fade, to take on the glamour of time and distance, and I cannot think of a better literary service than to make the fullest possible record now, before it utterly fades away."

It was not only the difficulty of recalling events that caused her to resist all urgings to undertake this task, but a certain shy reluctance in speaking of herself that was characteristic of her. It has, therefore, fallen to me to collect the widely scattered material from various parts of the world and weave it into a coherent whole as best I may, but my regret will never cease that she did not herself tell her own story.

It would take a more competent pen than mine to do her justice; but whoever reads this book from cover to cover will surely agree that no woman ever had a life of more varied experiences nor went through them all with a stauncher courage.

It is right that I should acknowledge here my profound obligation to the kind friends who have generously placed their personal recollections at my disposal. These are more definitely referred to in the body of the book. Aside from these personal contributions, the main sources of material have been as follows:

Ancestral genealogies, including _The Descendants of Jöran Kyn_, by Doctor Gregory B. Keen, secretary of the Pennsylvania Historical Society.

Data concerning the genealogy of the Keen and Van de Grift families collected by Frederic Thomas, of New York, nephew of Mrs. Stevenson.

Notes covering the life of Mrs. Stevenson up to the age of sixteen years, as dictated by herself.

A collection of her own letters to friends and relatives.

Letters to Mrs. Stevenson from friends.

Extracts from various books and magazines, including _The Letters of Mrs. M. I. Stevenson_ (Methuen and Company, London); _The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson_, by Graham Balfour; _The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson_, edited by Sidney Colvin; _Vailima Memories_, by Lloyd Osbourne and Isobel Osbourne Strong, now Mrs. Salisbury Field; _The Cruise of the Janet Nichol_, by Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson; _McClure's_, _Scribner's_, and the _Century_ magazines. Acknowledgment is due the publishers of the above books and periodicals for their courteous permissions.

A diary kept by Mrs. Stevenson of her life in Samoa, for which I am indebted to the considerate kindness of Miss Gladys Peacock, an English lady, into whose hands the diary fell by accident.

My own personal recollections.

Above all, I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to Mrs. Stevenson's daughter, Isobel Field, without whose unflagging zeal in forwarding the work it could scarcely have been carried to a successful conclusion, and to my son, Louis A. Sanchez, for valuable assistance in the actual writing of the book.

N. V. S.

Berkeley, California, January, 1919.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Ancestors 1

II. Early Days in Indiana 9

III. On the Pacific Slope 26

IV. France, and the Meeting at Grez 42

V. In California with Robert Louis Stevenson 55

VI. Europe and the British Isles 82

VII. Away to Sunnier Lands 124

VIII. The Happy Years in Samoa 167

IX. The Lonely Days of Widowhood 226

X. Back To California 260

XI. Travels in Mexico and Europe 279

XII. The Last Days at Santa Barbara 297

ILLUSTRATIONS

Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson during the English period.
_Frontispiece_

Facing Page

John Keen, about 83 years of age, maternal great-grandfather
of Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson. 2

Jacob Van de Grift, about 56 years of age, father of Fanny
Van de Grift Stevenson. 6

The Van de Grift residence at the corner of Illinois and
Washington Streets, Indianapolis. 22

The bridge at Grez. 46

Fanny Osbourne at about the time of her first meeting with
Robert Louis Stevenson. 48

Robert Louis Stevenson in the French days. 50

Fanny Osbourne at the time of her marriage to Robert
Louis Stevenson. 78

The house at Vailima with the additions made to the first
structure. 194

Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson. 262

The house at Hyde and Lombard Streets, San Francisco,
with some alterations in the way of bay windows, etc.,
which have been made since Mrs. Stevenson sold it. 266

The house at Vanumanutagi ranch. 274

Stonehedge at Santa Barbara. 298

The last portrait of Mrs. Stevenson. 306

The funeral procession as it wound up the hill. 332

The tomb, showing the bronze tablet with the verse from
Stevenson's poem to his wife. 336

THE LIFE OF MRS. ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON