London to John O 'Groat's. 377 



its part as perfectly as light. It put in the touch 

 of the old Italian masters, giving an ever-changing 

 background to all the sublime pictures of the panorama. 

 I was not alone in the enjoyment of this scenery. 

 For the first time in this Walk I had a companion 

 for a day. A clergyman from near Edinburgh joined 

 me at Kingussie, with whom I shared the luxury 

 of one of the most splendid views to be found in Scot- 

 land. Indeed, few minds are so constituted as to 

 prefer to see such natural gloryscapes alone. After 

 a day's walk among these sceneries, we came to the 

 small village of Aviemore in the dusk of the evening. 

 Here we found that the only inn had been closed 

 and turned into a private residence, and that it was 

 doubtful if a bed could be had for love or money 

 in the place. The railway through it to Inverness had 

 just been opened, and the navvies seemed still to con- 

 stitute the largest portion of the population. Neither 

 of us had eaten any dinner, and we were hungry as 

 well as tired. Seeing a little, low cottage near the 

 railroad, with the sign of something for the public 

 good over the door, we went to it, and found that 

 it had two rooms, one a kind of rough, stone-floored 

 shed, the other an apartment full ten feet square, 

 with two beds in it, which occupied half the entire 

 space. But small as it was, the good man and woman 



