least such time as he should be complete master of
himself. Now that the fatal double--his other self--had been engulfed
in the quicksand he felt something like his old peace of mind.

That night he slept soundly and did not dream at all; and in the
morning was quite his old self. It really seemed as though his newer
and worser self had disappeared for ever; and strangely enough Saft
Tammie was absent from his post that morning and never appeared there
again, but sat in his old place watching nothing, as of old, with
lack-lustre eye. In accordance with his resolution he did not wear his
Highland suit again, but one evening tied it up in a bundle, claymore,
dirk and philibeg and all, and bringing it secretly with him threw it
into the quicksand. With a feeling of intense pleasure he saw it
sucked below the sand, which closed above it into marble smoothness.
Then he went home and announced cheerily to his family assembled for
evening prayers:

'Well! my dears, you will be glad to hear that I have abandoned my
idea of wearing the Highland dress. I see now what a vain old fool I
was and how ridiculous I made myself! You shall never see it again!'

'Where is it, father?' asked one of the girls, wishing to say
something so that such a self-sacrificing announcement as her father's
should not be passed in absolute silence. His answer was so sweetly
given that the girl rose from her seat and came and kissed him. It
was:

'In the quicksand, my dear! and I hope that my worser self is buried
there along with it--for ever.'

* * * * *

The remainder of the summer was passed at Crooken with delight by all
the family, and on his return to town Mr. Markam had almost forgotten
the whole of the incident of the quicksand, and all touching on it,
when one day he got a letter from the MacCallum More which caused him
much thought, though he said nothing of it to his family, and left it,
for certain reasons, unanswered. It ran as follows:--

'The MacCallum More and Roderick MacDhu.
'The Scotch All-Wool Tartan Clothing Mart.
Copthall Court, E.C.,
30th September, 1892.

'Dear Sir,--I trust you will pardon the liberty which I take in
writing to you, but I am desirous of making an inquiry, and I am
informed that you have been sojourning during the summer in
Aberdeenshire (Scotland, N.B.). My partner, Mr. Roderick MacDhu--as he
appears for business reasons on our bill-he