Work on a series of tales of terror, or, as he called them, "crawlers," planned in collaboration with his wife, soon superseded for the moment other literary interests in his mind. _Thrawn Janet_ and the _Body-Snatchers_ were the only two of the set completed under their original titles: _The Wreck of the Susanna_ contained, I think, the germ of _The Merry Men_. _Kinnaird Cottage, Pitlochry [June 1881]._ MY DEAR COLVIN,--_The Black Man and Other Tales._ The Black Man: I. Thrawn Janet. II. The Devil on Cramond Sands. The Shadow on the Bed. The Body-Snatchers. The Case Bottle. The King's Horn. The Actor's Wife. The Wreck of the Susanna. This is the new work on which I am engaged with Fanny; they are all supernatural. _Thrawn Janet_ is off to Stephen, but as it is all in Scotch he cannot take it, I know. It was _so good_, I could not help sending it. My health improves. We have a lovely spot here: a little green glen with a burn, a wonderful burn, gold and green and snow-white, singing loud and low in different steps of its career, now pouring over miniature crags, now fretting itself to death in a maze of rocky stairs and pots; never was so sweet a little river. Behind, great purple moorlands reaching to Ben Vrackie. Hunger lives here, alone with larks and sheep. Sweet spot, sweet spot. Write me a word about Bob's professoriate and Landor, and what you think of _The Black Man_. The tales are all ghastly. _Thrawn Janet_ frightened me to death. There will maybe be another--_The Dead Man's Letter_. I believe I shall recover; and I am, in this blessed hope, yours exuberantly, R. L. S. TO PROFESSOR ÆNEAS MACKAY This and the next four or five letters refer to the candidature of R. L. S. for the Edinburgh Chair. _Kinnaird Cottage, Pitlochry, Wednesday, June 21, 1881._ MY DEAR MACKAY,--What is this I hear?--that you are retiring from your chair. It is not, I hope, from ill-health? But if you are retiring, may I ask if you have promised your support to any successor? I have a great mind to try. The summer session would suit me; the chair would suit me--if only I would suit it; I certainly should work it hard: that I can promise. I only wish it were a few years from now, when I hope to have something more substantial to show for myself. Up to the present time, all that I have published, even bordering on history, has been in an occasional form, and I fear this is much against me. Please let me hear a word in answer, and believe me, yours very sincerely, ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON TO PROFESSOR ÆNEAS MACKAY _Kinnaird Cottage, Pitlochry [June 1881]._