Arthur Markam made up his mind not to tell his family of his terrible
adventure—until at 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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