Monte Generoso was given up; and on the way home to Scotland
Stevenson had stopped for a while at Fontainebleau, and then in
Paris; whence, finding himself unpleasantly affected by the climate,
he presently took refuge at St. Germain.
_Hotel du Pavillon Henry IV., St. Germain-en-Laye, Sunday, May 1st,
1881._
MY DEAR PEOPLE,--A week in Paris reduced me to the limpness and lack of
appetite peculiar to a kid glove, and gave Fanny a jumping sore throat.
It's my belief there is death in the kettle there; a pestilence or the
like. We came out here, pitched on the _Star and Garter_ (they call it
Somebody's pavilion), found the place a bed of lilacs and nightingales
(first time I ever heard one), and also of a bird called the _piasseur_,
cheerfulest of sylvan creatures, an ideal comic opera in itself. "Come
along, what fun, here's Pan in the next glade at picnic, and this-yer's
Arcadia, and it's awful fun, and I've had a glass, I will not deny, but
not to see it on me," that is his meaning as near as I can gather. Well,
the place (forest of beeches all new-fledged, grass like velvet, fleets
of hyacinth) pleased us and did us good. We tried all ways to find a
cheaper place, but could find nothing safe; cold, damp, brick-floored
rooms and sich; we could not leave Paris till your seven days' sight on
draft expired; we dared not go back to be miasmatised in these homes of
putridity; so here we are till Tuesday in the _Star and Garter_. My
throat is quite cured, appetite and strength on the mend. Fanny seems
also picking up.
If we are to come to Scotland, I _will_ have fir-trees, and I want a
burn, the firs for my physical, the water for my moral health.--Ever
affectionate son,