That night he slept soundly and did not dream at all; and in themorning was quite his old self. It really seemed as though his newerand worser self had disappeared for ever; and strangely enough SaftTammie was absent from his post that morning and never appeared thereagain, but sat in his old place watching nothing, as of old, withlack-lustre eye. In accordance with his resolution he did not wear hisHighland suit again, but one evening tied it up in a bundle, claymore,dirk and philibeg and all, and bringing it secretly with him th
rew itinto the quicksand. With a feeling of intense pleasure he saw itsucked below the sand, which closed above it into marble smoothness.Then he went home and announced cheerily to his family assembled forevening prayers:
'Well! my dears, you will be glad to hear that I have abandoned myidea of wearing the Highland dress. I see now what a vain old fool Iwas and how ridiculous I made myself! You shall never see it again!'
'Where is it, father?' asked one of the girls, wishing to saysomething so that such a self-sacrificing announcement as her father'sshould not be passed in absolute silence. His answer was so sweetlygiven that the girl rose from her seat and came and kissed him. Itwas:
'In the quicksand, my dear! and I hope that my worser self is buriedthere along with it--for ever.'
* * * * *
The remainder of the summer was passed at Crooken with delight by allthe family, and on his return to town Mr. Markam had almost forgottenthe 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 himmuch 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 inwriting to you, but I am desirous of making an inquiry, and I aminformed that you have been sojourning during the summer inAberdeenshire (Scotland, N.B.). My partner, Mr. Roderick MacDhu--as heappears for business reasons on our bill-heads and in ouradvertisements, his real name being Emmanuel Moses Marks ofLondon--went early last month to Scotland (N.B.) for a tour, but as Ihave only once heard from him, shortly after his departure, I amanxious lest any misfortune may have befallen him. As I have beenunable to obtain any news of him on making all inquiries in my power,I venture to appeal to you. His letter was written in deep dejectionof spirit, and mentioned that he feared a judgment had come upon himfor wishing to appear as a Scotchman on Scottish soil, as he had onemoonlight night shortly after his arrival seen his 'wraith'. Heevidently alluded to the fact that before his departure he hadprocured for himself a Highland costume similar to that which we hadthe honour to supply to you, with which, as perhaps you will remember,he was much struck. He may, however, never have worn it, as he was, tomy own knowledge, diffident about putting it on, and even went so faras to tell me that he would at first only venture to wear it late atnight or very early in the morning, and then only in remote places,until such time as he should get accustomed to it. Unfortunately hedid not advise me of his route so that I am in complete ignorance ofhis whereabouts; and I venture to ask if you may have seen or heard ofa Highland costume similar to your own having been seen anywhere inthe neighbourhood in which I am told you have recently purchased theestate which you temporarily occupied. I shall not expect an answer tothis letter unless you can give me some information regarding myfriend and partner, so pray do not trouble to reply unless there because. I am encouraged to think that he may have been in yourneighbourhood as, though his letter is not dated, the envelope ismarked with the postmark of "Yellon" which I find is in Aberdeenshire,and not far from the Mains of Crooken.
'I have the honour to be, dear sir, 'Yours very respectfully, 'JOSHUA SHEENY COHEN BENJAMIN '(The MacCallum More.)'