She proposed to stay another week at the Neuk Hydropathic and suggested that he might join her and bring her home.

He sat down and wrote a long affectionate reply, declining, but expressing his delight that she was soon returning.

"That's very likely the last time Mamma will hear from me," he reflected, but--oddly enough--without any great fluttering of the heart.
Then he proceeded to be furiously busy.

He sent out Tibby to buy another knapsack and to order a cab and to cash a considerable cheque.
In the knapsack he packed a fresh change of clothing and the new safety razor, but no books, for he was past the need of them.

That done, he drove to his solicitors.
"What like a firm are Glendonan and Speirs in Edinburgh ?" he asked the senior partner.
"Oh, very respectable.