164 FORAYS AMONG SALMON AND DEER. 



corner dingy as himself, and to my surprise and 

 no small annoyance, I recognised in the quaint little 

 being before me none other than our postman, who 

 should have been several miles further on his road 

 with our letters, to meet the southward mail. Unable, 

 however, miscreant that he was, to resist the temptation 

 of the wedding festivities, he had laid aside for the 

 nonce the character of postman, and left the letter-bags 

 to shift for themselves, utterly regardless of the fact 

 that they would now be too late for the present mail, 

 and consequently delayed three days longer, to await 

 the departure of the next. Rorie's misdeeds however 

 had long been dealt with too leniently ; and though he 

 rather quailed in our presence, he seemed resolved 

 to put the best face on the matter, and brave it out. 

 His travelling costume being somewhat of the coarsest, 

 he had tried to improve his personal appearance by 

 discarding for the evening a huge weather-proof pilot- 

 coat, originally intended for a person of a much larger 

 mould, with boots to match, and now he stood forth in 

 blue shirt-sleeves, and stockings whose primary hue 

 was lost amid the many-coloured patches with which 

 he had striven to make them last their time. Though 

 once, as he assured us, a fine-looking youth and a 

 private in the gallant 93rd, he was now considerably 

 under five feet, and being upwards of sixty, his grizzled 

 head and scanty attire contrasted forcibly with the 

 merry countenance, lit up as it was by a broad grin 

 extending nearly from ear to ear. His appearance was 

 greeted with applause and laughter. For a moment, 

 as he stood in the centre of the floor, the very picture 

 of decrepit old age, I wondered how such a one could be 

 expected to dance; but as the music struck up, his 

 little figure became instantly endowed with a wonderful 

 agility and animation. He tossed his arms energetically 



