Collected works > Edinburgh edition, 1894-98 - Works of Robert Louis Stevenson > Volume 3, 1895 - Travels and Excursions, Volume II

THE SILVERADO SQUATTERS
the engineer. In short, the place was a kind of
small Davos : consumptive folk consorting on a hill-
top in the most unbroken idleness. Jennings never
did anything that I could see, except now and then
to fish, and generally to sit about in the bar and the
verandah, waiting for something to happen. Corwin
and Rufe did as little as possible ; and if the school-
ma'am, poor lady, had to work pretty hard all
morning, she subsided when it was over into much
the same dazed beatitude as all the rest.
Her special corner was the parlour — a very genteel
room, with Bible prints, a crayon portrait of Mrs.
Corwin in the height of fashion, a few years ago,
another of her son (Mr. Corwin was not represented),
a mirror, and a selection of dried grasses. A large
book was laid rehgiously on the table — From Palace
to Hovel, I believe, its name — full of the raciest
experiences in England. The author had mingled
freely with all classes, the nobility particularly
meeting him with open arms ; and I must say that
traveller had ill requited his reception. His book, in
short, was a capital instance of the Penny Messalina
school of literature ; and there arose from it, in that
cool parlour, in that silent wayside mountain inn, a
rank atmosphere of gold and blood and 'Jenkins,'
and the ' Mysteries of London,' and sickening,
inverted snobbery, fit to knock you down. The
mention of this book reminds me of another and
far racier picture of our island life. The latter parts
of Rocambole are surely too sparingly consulted in
the country which they celebrate. No man's educa-
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