Having spent the last fortnight of April 1888 at New York, RLS and his stepson Lloyd moved at the beginning of May to Manasquan, a small New Jersey watering-place; his wife having meanwhile gone to San Francisco, where she presently made arrangements for a Pacific yachting trip.
[As usual, for correct and critical edition of this letters, see Mehew 6, 2076.]
To Sidney Colvin [Colvin 1912, p. 237]
Union House, Manasquan, New Jersey [? 7 May, 1888]
My dear Colvin,
We are here at a delightful country inn, like a country French place, the only people in the house,
a cat-boat at our disposal,
the sea always audible on the outer beach,
the lagoon as smooth as glass,
all the little, queer, many coloured villas standing shuttered and empty;
in front of ours, across the lagoon, two long wooden bridges; one for the rail, one for the road, sounding with intermittent traffic.
It is highly pleasant, and a delightful change from Saranac.
My health is much better for the change; I am sure I walked about four miles yesterday, one time with another – well, say three and a half; and the day before, I was out for four hours in the cat-boat,
and was as stiff as a board in consequence.
More letters call. – Yours ever,
R.L.S.
