mething about an official
communication which he had opened a day or two before, and hastily
dropped in order to fling a book at a strange cat that had come into
the garden, and was cowering in wait for a chaffinch. He scarcely knew
enough of business to understand who the creditors were; but he could
perceive that if they had even 2,000,000 pounds owing to them, the
first calls would far more than sweep away his little property and
leave him a beggar. Very well. He looked at the newspapers again;
there was nothing in these crumpled sheets that could hurt him. A
branch of a tree blown down by the wind on the top of his head could
hurt him; or a chimney-pot falling from a roof; or a horse lifting its
leg and kicking him; but a newspaper report he could thrust into the
fire. He looked out of the window; the broad waters of the Firth were
all ruffled into a dark blue by the morning breeze, and the sunlight
shone along the yellow shores of Innellan; and far in the south Arran's
jagged peaks were a clear blue among the silvery clouds: these things
could not be altered by anything happening in Glasgow. He looked at
his hands; there were ten fingers there that had not done much work in
the world; surely it was time they should try? And surely they could
win for him bread and milk, or at the worst bread and water? In the
meantime the thought of the cat had recalled to him that he had not as
yet scattered crumbs for the birds that morning. That was the first
thing to be done; and so he went and did it.

There can be no doubt that this contemptuous indifference was largely
the result of the teachings of Marcus Aurelius, which this solitary man
had drank in until they seemed to have got absorbed into his very
blood. But there was something more; there was a vein of personal
pride of a very distinct kind. He would not admit to himself that any
number of bank-directors in Glasgow or elsewhere had the power to harm
him. Moreover, when, after waiting a considerable time to see how
things would go, he went to Greenock to consult the solicitor who had
written to him, and to whom he was known, this stubborn pride and
independence came out more strongly than ever.

'The question is,' said he, in his slow, emphatic way, 'do I owe the
money, or do I not owe the money?'

'No doubt of it, Captain Douglas,' the other remonstrated; 'you are
morally as well as legally bound. But the liquidators are human
beings; they do not wish