INTRODUCTION 



while in summer he was most often to be found 

 on the links of his native St. Andrews in days 

 before golf had fired, as an apocalypse, the fancies 

 of men besouth the Tweed. Himself a bold and 

 good horseman, very modest withal, he was 

 always more disposed to turn an appreciative eye 

 on the performances of others than to invite 

 attention to his own. 



Many a story is told even now of his quiet 

 humour and old-fashioned, never-failing courtesy. 

 One day, as he stood at the edge of the pavement, 

 waiting to cross an excessively muddy street, a 

 lady's carriage drew up smartly in front of a shop 

 before which he was standing, splashing him from 

 head to foot with filthy mire, an assault of a kind 

 calculated to upset the equanimity of the mildest 

 of men. 



"Oh, Major Melville," exclaimed the lady, a 

 friend of his, ** I am so sorry." 



** It doesn't matter a bit," said he ; "I always 

 say you drive the best-actioned horses in London." 



Readers of Whyte-Melville's novels cannot 

 fail to be struck by a constantly recurring note 

 of melancholy which runs through them all, 

 especially in reference to women. Therein may 

 be traced the effect of his own lifelong dis- 

 appointment. It behoves one to deal reverently 

 with the domestic life, even of the departed, but 

 it was matter of common knowledge to all his 



xiv 



