MY father has returned in better health, and I am more delighted
than I can well tell you. The one trouble that I can see no way
through is that his health, or my mother's, should give way. To-
night, as I was walking along Princes Street, I heard the bugles
sound the recall. I do not think I had ever remarked it before;
there is something of unspeakable appeal in the cadence. I felt as
if something yearningly cried to me out of the darkness overhead to
come thither and find rest; one felt as if there must be warm
hearts and bright fires waiting for one up there, where the buglers
stood on the damp pavement and sounded their friendly invitation
forth into the night.

WEDNESDAY. - I may as well tell you exactly about my health. I am
not at all ill; have quite recovered; only I am what MM. LES
MEDECINS call below par; which, in plain English, is that I am
weak. With tonics, decent weather, and a little cheerfulness, that
will go away in its turn, and I shall be all right again.

I am glad to hear what you say about the Exam.; until quite lately
I have treated that pretty cavalierly, for I say honestly that I do
not mind being plucked; I shall just have to go up again. We
travelled with the Lord Advocate the other day, and he strongly
advised me in my father's hearing to go to the English Bar; and the
Lord Advocate's advice goes a long way in Scotland. It is a sort
of special legal revelation. Don't misunderstand me. I don't, of
course, want to be plucked; but so far as my style of knowledge
suits them, I cannot make much betterment on it in a month. If
they wish scholarship more exact, I must take a new lease
altogether.