CHAPTER X. 



A NEW BEGINNING JOURNEY TO HAMBURG 

 THE HAWKERS. 



IT must here be mentioned that the family of Alston 

 in the Isle of Man were related to the family of Mr. 

 McDougall, Robertson's friend and partner. In 1839, 

 Mr. Alston had been left a widower with an only 

 daughter, named Hannah, then aged thirteen. At a 

 still earlier period this little girl had become acquainted 

 with David Robertson's name, by being bidden to 

 collect shells on the sea-shore for the benefit of his great 

 conchological signboard before mentioned. That she 

 would ever see the man himself she had naturally 

 then no expectation, nor, for the matter of that, any 

 curiosity to do so. In the year 1842, however, it so 

 happened that Mr. Alston brought his daughter to 

 Glasgow to be introduced to her relatives, the 

 McDougalls. With them also came a cousin. Mr. 

 Alston was a very tall man, and when he entered the 

 warehouse with a tall young lady on one arm and 

 his little daughter on the other, Robertson's attention 

 was immediately arrested by the trio ; and something 

 apparently besides his attention must have been 

 taken captive, for he seems to have made up his 



