rent person a'thegither. It's the name has
misled me. I am really so sorry." An' she curtsied politely to me, an'
shut the door.

Ay, here, then, was a pretty dooncome to a' my air-built castles o' luve
an' happiness! It was a mistak, was it?--a mistak? I wasna the person at
a'! She thocht the letter was frae anither gentleman a'thegither! An',
pray, wha was this gentleman? A' that, an' a deal mair, I subsequently
fand oot. The gentleman was a certain Willie Smith--a young, guid-lookin
fallow, who sat in the same kirk wi' us, an' between whom an' Lizzy
there had lang existed the telegraphic correspondence o' looks an'
smiles, an' sighs, an' blushes--in fact, just such a correspondence as I
had carried on mysel, wi' this important difference, however, that it
wasna a' on ae side, as it noo appeared it had been in my case. The
other Willie Smith's returns were real, while mine were only imaginary.
I needna enlarge on the subject o' my feelins under this grievous an'
heart-rendin disappointment. It will be aneuch to say that it pat me
nearly beside mysel, an' that it was amaist a hale week before I tasted
a morsel o' food o' ony kind. I was in a sad state; but time, that cures
a' ills, at length cured mine, too, although it didna remove my regret
that a name so unhappily frequent as Willie Smith had ever been bestowed
on me.

Havin already described mysel as bein o' a susceptible nature, and bein
at this time in the prime o' youth, it winna surprise the reader to
learn that I soon after this fell in love a second time. The object o'
my affections, on this occasion, was a pretty girl, whom I met wi' at
the house o' a mutual freen. She was a stranger in oor toun, an' had
come frae Glasgow--o' which city she was a native--on a short visit to a
relation. The acquaintance which I formed wi' this amiable creature soon
ripened into the most ardent affection, an' I had every reason, very
early, to believe that my love was returned. The subsequent progress of
our intimacy established the delightful fact. We eventually stood on the
footin o' avowed, an' all but absolutely betrothed lovers. Soon after
this, Lucy Craig, which was the name of my beloved, returned to Glasgow,
but not before we had settled to maintain a close and regular
correspondence.

The correspondence wi' Lucy, to which I hae alluded, subsequently took
place; an', for several months--durin which I had made, besides, twa or
three runs to Glasgow, to see her--mony