institution, called on several different occasions to present my
official thanks, but I was invariably met at the door with word
that he was sleeping and did not wish to be disturbed. The first
two times I believed Mrs. McGurk; after that--well, I know our
doctor! So when it came time to send our little maid to prattle
her unconscious good-bys to the man who had saved her life, I
despatched her in charge of Betsy.

I haven't an idea what is the matter with the man. He was
friendly enough last week, but now, if I want an opinion from
him, I have to send Percy to extract it. I do think that he
might see me as the superintendent of the asylum, even if he
doesn't wish our acquaintance to be on a personal basis. There
is no doubt about it, our Sandy is Scotch!


LATER.


It is going to require a fortune in stamps to get this letter
to Jamaica, but I do want you to know all the news, and we have
never had so many exhilarating things happen since 1876, when we
were founded. This fire has given us such a shock that we are
going to be more alive for years to come. I believe that every
institution ought to be burned to the ground every twenty-five
years in order to get rid of old-fashioned equipment and obsolete
ideas. I am superlatively glad now that we didn't spend Jervis's
money last summer; it would have been intensively tragic to have
had that burn. I don't mind so much about John Grier's, since he
made it in a patent medicine which, I hear, contained opium.