Collected works > Edinburgh edition, 1894-98 - Works of Robert Louis Stevenson > Volume 9, 1895 - Romances Volume II

PLAYS HAROUN-AL-RASCHID
to the stranger's bed. You are not the first by many
who has slept well below my roof,' continued the old
gentleman, mounting the stairs before his guest;
' for good food, honest wine, a grateful conscience,
and a little pleasant chat before a man retires, are
worth all the possets and apothecary's drugs. See,
sir,' and here he opened a door and ushered Otto into
a little whitewashed sleeping-room, ' here you are in
port. It is small, but it is airy, and the sheets are
clean and kept in lavender. The window, too, looks
out above the river, and there 's no music like a little
river's. It plays the same tune (and that 's the
favourite) over and over again, and yet does not
weary of it like men fiddlers. It takes the mind out
of doors ; and though we should be grateful for good
houses, there is, after all, no house like God's out-of-
doors. And lastly, sir, it quiets a man down like
saying his prayers. So here, sir, I take my kind
leave of you until to-morrow ; and it is my prayerful
wish that you may slumber like a prince.'
And the old man, with the twentieth courteous
inclination, left his guest alone.
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