of the port, where the offal of the fish, the refuse of
the bait, and the house rubbish was thrown, and where the ducks were
accustomed to hold high revel.

When Saft Tammie beheld him coming he raised his eyes, which were
generally fixed on the nothing which lay on the roadway opposite his
seat, and, seeming dazzled as if by a burst of sunshine, rubbed them
and shaded them with his hand. Then he started up and raised his hand
aloft in a denunciatory manner as he spoke:--

'"Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher. All is vanity." Mon, be
warned in time! "Behold the lilies of the field, they toil not,
neither do they spin, yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
like one of these." Mon! Mon! Thy vanity is as the quicksand which
swallows up all which comes within its spell. Beware vanity! Beware
the quicksand, which yawneth for thee, and which will swallow thee up!
See thyself! Learn thine own vanity! Meet thyself face to face, and
then in that moment thou shalt learn the fatal force of thy vanity.
Learn it, know it, and repent ere the quicksand swallow thee!' Then
without another word he went back to his seat and sat there immovable
and expressionless as before.

Markam could not but feel a little upset by this tirade. Only that it
was spoken by a seeming madman, he would have put it down to some
eccentric exhibition of Scottish humour or impudence; but the gravity
of the message--for it seemed nothing else--made such a reading
impossible. He was, however, determined not to give in to ridicule,
and although he had not yet seen anything in Scotland to remind him
even of a kilt, he determined to wear his Highland dress. When he
returned home, in less than half-an-hour, he found that every member
of the family was, despite the headaches, out taking a walk. He took
the opportunity afforded by their absence of locking himself in his
dressing-room, took off the Highland dress, and, putting on a suit of
flannels, lit a cigar and had a snooze. He was awakened by the noise
of the family coming in, and at once donning his dress made his
appearance in the drawing-room for tea.

He did not go out again that afternoon; but after dinner he put on his
dress again--he had, of course dressed for dinner as usual--and went
by himself for a walk on the sea-shore. He had by this time come to
the conclusion that he would get by degrees accustomed to the Highland
dress before making it his ordinary wear. The moon was up and he
easily