ame to her. He was
covered, however, as Salemina had supposed, and the occurrence gave us
a precious opportunity of chaffing that dungeon of learning. He was
tolerably alert and vigorous, too, although he certainly did not impart
elegance to a vehicle, and he knew every street in the court end of
Edinburgh, and every close and wynd in the Old Town. On this our first
meeting with him, he faltered only when Francesca asked him last of all
to drive to 'Kildonan House, Helmsdale'; supposing, not unnaturally,
that it was as well known an address as Morningside House, Tipperlinn,
whence she had just come. The lamiter had never heard of Kildonan House
nor of Helmsdale, and he had driven in the streets of Auld Reekie for
thirty years. None of the drivers whom he consulted could supply any
information; Susanna Crum cudna say that she had ever heard of it, nor
could Mrs. M'Collop, nor could Miss Diggity-Dalgety. It was reserved for
Lady Baird to explain that Helmsdale was two hundred and eighty miles
north, and that Kildonan House was ten miles from the Helmsdale railway
station, so that the poor lamiter would have had a weary drive even had
he known the way. The friends who had given us letters to Mr. and Mrs.
Jameson-Inglis (Jimmyson-Ingals) must have expected us either to visit
John o' Groats on the northern border, and drop in on Kildonan House
en route, or to send our note of introduction by post and await an
invitation to pass the summer. At all events, the anecdote proved very
pleasing to our Edinburgh acquaintances. I hardly know whether, if they
should visit America, they would enjoy tales of their own stupidity
as hugely as they did the tales of ours, but they really were very
appreciative in this particular, and it is but justice to ourselves to
say that we gave them every opportunity for enjoyment.

But I must go back to our first grand dinner in Scotland. We were
dressed at quarter-past seven, when, in looking at the invitation again,
we discovered that the dinner-hour was eight o'clock, not seven-thirty.
Susanna did not happen to know the exact approximate distance to
Fotheringay Crescent, but the maiden Boots affirmed that it was only two
minutes' drive, so we sat down in front of the fire to chat.

It was Lady Baird's birthday feast to which we had been bidden, and
we had done our best to honour the occasion. We had prepared a large
bouquet tied with the Maclean tartan (Lady Baird is a Maclean), and had
printed i