260 The Naturalist of Ciimbrae. 



three weeks before, and was now away at Cromer, 

 about fifteen miles distant, to recruit his spirits, and 

 would most likely not care to see any stranger. 

 When this was repeated to Mr. Stevenson, the latter 

 remarked 



" Never mind; go and see Mr. Gunn. I am sure he 

 will receive you kindly and give you what information 

 he can. You can get by the coach this evening." 



Following this friendly and sensible advice, Robert- 

 son reached Cromer, and called on Mr. Gunn, who, as 

 had been predicted, received him very kindly, went 

 with him the next morning and showed him the 

 Cromer beds, and explained the strata that such and 

 such fossils were to be found in. 



After breakfast Mr. Gunn returned home in his 

 carriage, taking the Glasgow geologist with him. At 

 his own house he showed him the fossils he had col- 

 lected in the Cromer beds, and also gave him much 

 valuable information regarding the lakes that were 

 best worth visiting. 



It was on a Saturday that they returned from 

 Cromer, so that presumably the next day must have 

 been Sunday. As it is treading on rather delicate 

 ground to relate what passed between, the clergyman 

 and his guest on that day, it will be safest here to 

 quote our hero's own words, with the hope that the 

 passage, being sandwiched in among dry details about 

 nets and mud and ostracoda, may escape the notice 

 of any natives of Edinburgh whose feelings have been 

 outraged in the earlier part of the chapter. 



"He [the Rev. Mr. Gunn] said that it was most 

 likely that I would rather have a sail on the lake that 



