TWO MONTHS AT SPEYSIDE 167 



Onions had rather a sweet tooth, for his great receipt of warm- 

 ing up his toes and generally restoring circulation of the blood 

 after a long, deep wade in snow water, was several lumps of 

 candied ginger with some Glenlivet on the top of them, and 

 I can only assure my readers that there are worse ways of 

 getting warm. 



This day of our advent we did not think it worth while to 

 take our rods out, so after unpacking portmanteaus we con- 

 tented ourselves with an afternoon's walk along the bank of 

 our fishery. Splendid-looking water we found it, so in the 

 evening we divided it into two beats, and, tossing for choice, to 

 my lot it fell to make a start on the upper one. We were astir 

 betimes on the following morning, and though Onions was first 

 in the bathroom, I soon heard his welcome cry of " Coast 

 clear," and the sound of his return to his quarters. Now the 

 bathroom door was exactly opposite my bedroom, while it was 

 but a few strides from one to the other ; also the whole of the 

 rooms on that floor were our very own ; thus, as I was in a 

 hurry to get dressed, and vexed at the start Onions already 

 had of me, like a reckless man I discarded all ceremony, 

 dashed off my night-shirt, flung a bath towel round me, and 

 in two strides I was in the bathroom, with the door already 

 locked, when, lo and behold, to my horror I found the eldest 

 Miss Monyplies behind it ! She, poor thing, thinking that both 

 her lodgers had tubbed, had gone into the room to get some 

 china from a cupboard, and when first discovered by me she 

 was standing in dismay on a chair, each hand holding out in 

 mute expostulation a pile of cups and saucers. 



" Goodness gracious ! " said I. 



"Open the door, young man, and let me out," cried Miss 

 Monyplies. 



Now that was precisely what I was trying to do, but the shock 

 to my modesty had been so great that all efforts to unlock the 

 door were unavailing. " Confound the lock ! " I cried, and then 

 venturing to look at Miss Monyplies, I saw she was still on the 



