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 A Letter.’ I believe I shall recover; and I am, in this blessed hope, yours exuberantly,
R. L. S.
to Professor Æneas Mackay
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, Perthshire [June 1881].