Page:The Story of the House of Cassell (book).djvu/252

 of 'Flint's old ship'—the Walrus—was given at his particular request. And now who should come dropping in, ex machina, but Dr. Japp, like the disguised prince who is to bring down the curtain upon peace and happiness in the last act; for he carried in his pocket, not a horn or a talisman, but a publisher—ready, in fact, to unearth new writers for my now old friend Mr. Henderson's Young Folks. Even the ruthlessness of a united family recoiled before the extreme measure of inflicting on our guest the mutilated members of 'The Sea Cook'; at the same time we would by no means stop our readings; and accordingly the tale was begun again at the beginning, and solemnly redelivered for the benefit of Dr. Japp ... when he left us, he carried away the MS. in his portmanteau."

Dr. Japp's own account of the visit was written to Sir Sidney Colvin:

"R. L. S. had often heard of me through his friends in Edinburgh, and when I printed a letter in the Spectator about Thoreau, he wrote to me wishing to know me personally.... Accordingly I went to the Cottage Castleton of Braemar as invited and stayed some days—days that are delightful to me to think of. The best part of the afternoon was the reading of a chapter of a romance of adventure ... and in Stevenson's little attic there, where he wrote and worked, I listened to the reading of those earlier chapters. And such reading—dramatic, varied skilfully in tone and inflection as his slim body gently swayed in his characteristic fashion; MS. in hand as he read; and now and then swaying too—as I shall never forget. His father was as keenly interested in the story as Sam (Lloyd) Osbourne was; his enjoyment was shown in his expression, and his judgment in occasional suggestions offered during the reading; and sometimes Mrs. Stevenson would put in a sagacious word, too. It was a delightful mélange every way. I had thus heard the whole of the story in the first pencil draft before I left. One half of the story, which had been revised carefully and recopied, I brought away with me in my portmanteau, with the view of ensuring that it should be printed, and not lost to the world as dozens of Mr. Stevenson's former story efforts had been."

It was Dr. Japp who disposed of the story, for serial use, to Mr. James Henderson.