174 ANGLING & ART IN SCOTLAND 



The only reply was a faint groan accompanied by 

 the sound of some slight movement, which made 

 one at any rate thankful that the victim's life was 

 not extinct. 



On arriving at the fatal turning, our earnest 

 gaze was met by an apparition most surprising, and 

 at the same time — to put the reader out of sus- 

 pense — reassuring. On the floor of the vestibule 

 below, was seated, facing the staircase, a gentleman 

 fully dressed, holding in his hand a battered and 

 flattened pewter candlestick : a gentleman of a 

 cheerful cast of countenance, his face wreathed with 

 smiles, as if it were the most usual and enter- 

 taining form of amusement in the world to pre- 

 cipitate oneself down a long and dangerous flight 

 of steps at two o'clock in the morning. 



It certainly was a ludicrous sight ; and on re- 

 covering from our first surprise, we could not for 

 the life of us help returning his affable smile as we 

 inquired what he was doing there. He replied, 

 with some slight difficulty in his speech, that he 

 didn't know ; nor did he know the number of his 

 bedroom — a want of intelligence on his part which, 

 nevertheless, did not seem to cause him the least 

 distress, for he still continued to beam most amiably. 



