STEVENSON'S " THE WAIF WOMAN."
CTo THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR.") Sin,—A fortnight ago, in reviewing The lVaiJ Woman, you wrote: "There is, so to speak, very little in it. Probably that is why it never saw the light till now. Men are good judges of their own work, for all that people may say to the contrary." You seem to imply that Stevenson thought The Waif TVornan not good enough for publication, but the fact is that the story would have been published at the beginning of 1893—nearly two years before the author's death—if it had been left to his own judgment. Writing to Sir Sidney Colvin in December, 1892, he gave directions for a volume of tales, to be published by Cassells, and in his selection he included The Waif Woman. The reason "why it never saw the light till now" must, therefore, be sought elsewhere, and it is to be found farther on in the same letter, where he says: " My wife protests against The Waif Woman, and I am instructed to report the same to you." Stevenson had promised his father some years before that he would never publish any- thing without his wife's approval, and Sir Sidney Colvin, in a note to the passage quoted from Vailima Letters, says: "This tale was withheld from the volume accordingly."—I am, Sir, At.,
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