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      THE WORKS OF
 ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

    SWANSTON EDITION

       VOLUME XXI




_Of this SWANSTON EDITION in Twenty-five
Volumes of the Works of ROBERT LOUIS
STEVENSON Two Thousand and Sixty Copies
have been printed, of which only Two Thousand
Copies are for sale._

_This is No._...........

[Illustration: R.L.S. ON THE FORWARD DECK OF THE SCHOONER "EQUATOR"]




THE WORKS OF

ROBERT LOUIS
STEVENSON

VOLUME TWENTY-ONE

LONDON: PUBLISHED BY CHATTO AND
WINDUS: IN ASSOCIATION WITH CASSELL
AND COMPANY LIMITED: WILLIAM
HEINEMANN: AND LONGMANS GREEN
AND COMPANY       MDCCCCXII


ALL RIGHTS RESERVED




CONTENTS


  THE STORY OF A LIE

  CHAPTER                                            PAGE

      I. INTRODUCES THE ADMIRAL                         3

     II. A LETTER TO THE PAPERS                         8

    III. IN THE ADMIRAL'S NAME                         14

     IV. ESTHER ON THE FILIAL RELATION                 21

      V. THE PRODIGAL FATHER MAKES HIS DEBUT AT HOME   24

     VI. THE PRODIGAL FATHER GOES ON FROM STRENGTH TO
          STRENGTH                                     31

    VII. THE ELOPEMENT                                 41

   VIII. BATTLE ROYAL                                  50

     IX. IN WHICH THE LIBERAL EDITOR APPEARS AS
         "DEUS EX MACHINA"                             60


  THE MERRY MEN

      I. EILEAN AROS                                   69

     II. WHAT THE WRECK HAD BROUGHT TO AROS            76

    III. LAND AND SEA IN SANDAG BAY                    89

     IV. THE GALE                                     100

      V. A MAN OUT OF THE SEA                         112


  OLALLA                                              127


  HEATHERCAT

  PART I.--THE KILLING-TIME

      I. TRAQUAIRS OF MONTROYMONT                     177

     II. FRANCIE                                      182

    III. THE HILL-END OF DRUMLOWE                     195


  THE GREAT NORTH ROAD

      I. NANCE AT THE "GREEN DRAGON"                  203

     II. IN WHICH MR. ARCHER IS INSTALLED             210

    III. JONATHAN HOLDAWAY                            218

     IV. MINGLING THREADS                             223

      V. LIFE IN THE CASTLE                           229

     VI. THE BAD HALF-CROWN                           233

    VII. THE BLEACHING-GREEN                          238

   VIII. THE MAIL GUARD                               244


  THE YOUNG CHEVALIER


  PROLOGUE--THE WINE-SELLER'S WIFE                    253

      I. THE PRINCE                                   263


  FABLES

      I. THE PERSONS OF THE TALE                      269

     II. THE SINKING SHIP                             272

    III. THE TWO MATCHES                              274

     IV. THE SICK MAN AND THE FIREMAN                 275

      V. THE DEVIL AND THE INNKEEPER                  276

     VI. THE PENITENT                                 277

    VII. THE YELLOW PAINT                             277

   VIII. THE HOUSE OF ELD                             280

     IX. THE FOUR REFORMERS                           286

      X. THE MAN AND HIS FRIEND                       287

     XI. THE READER                                   287

    XII. THE CITIZEN AND THE TRAVELLER                288

   XIII. THE DISTINGUISHED STRANGER                   289

    XIV. THE CART-HORSES AND THE SADDLE-HORSE         290

     XV. THE TADPOLE AND THE FROG                     291

    XVI. SOMETHING IN IT                              291

   XVII. FAITH, HALF-FAITH, AND NO FAITH AT ALL       295

  XVIII. THE TOUCHSTONE                               297

    XIX. THE POOR THING                               304

     XX. THE SONG OF THE MORROW                       310




THE STORY OF A LIE




THE STORY OF A LIE




CHAPTER I

INTRODUCES THE ADMIRAL


When Dick Naseby was in Paris he made some odd acquaintances, for he was
one of those who have ears to hear, and can use their eyes no less than
their intelligence. He made as many thoughts as Stuart Mill; but his
philosophy concerned flesh and blood, and was experimental as to its
method. He was a type-hunter among mankind. He despised small game and
insignificant personalities, whether in the shape of dukes or bagmen,
letting them go by like sea-weed; but show him a refined or powerful
face, let him hear a plangent or a penetrating voice, fish for him with
a living look in some one's eye, a passionate gesture, a meaning or
ambiguous smile, and his mind was instantaneously awakened. "There was a
man, there was a woman," he seemed to say, and he stood up to the task
of comprehension with the delight of an artist in his art.

And indeed, rightly considered, this interest of his was an artistic
interest. There is no science in the personal study of human nature. All
comprehension is creation; the woman I love is somewhat of my handiwork;
and the great lover, like the great painter, is he that can so embellish
his subject as to make her more than human, whilst yet by a cunning art
he has so based his apotheosis on the nature of the case that the woman
can go on being a true woman, and give her character free play, and show
littleness, or cherish spite, or be greedy of common pleasures, and he
continue to worship without a thought of incongruity. To love a
character is only the heroic way of understanding it. When we love, by
some noble method of our own or some nobility of mien or nature in the
other, we apprehend the loved one by what is noblest in ourselves. When
we are merely studying an eccentricity, the method of our study is but a
series of allowances. To begin to understand is to begin to sympathise;
for comprehension comes only when we have stated another's faults and
virtues in terms of our own. Hence the proverbial toler