s all for going alone.

"My experience of the world is not a very large one," I said. "But
I have observed that, in nine cases out of ten, a man will make
concessions to a woman, if she approaches him by her self, which he
would hesitate even to consider if another man was within hearing. I
don't know how it is--I only know that it is so; If I find that I get on
badly with Mr. Playmore, I will ask him for a second appointment, and,
in that case, you shall accompany me. Don't think me self-willed. Let me
try my luck alone, and let us see what comes of it."

Benjamin yielded, with his customary consideration for me. I sent my
letter of introduction to Mr. Playmore's office--his private house being
in the neighborhood of Gleninch. My messenger brought back a polite
answer, inviting me to visit him at an early hour in the afternoon. At
the appointed time, to the moment, I rang the bell at the office door.

CHAPTER XXXIII. A SPECIMEN OF MY FOLLY.

THE incomprehensible submission of Scotchmen to the ecclesiastical
tyranny of their Established Church has produced--not unnaturally, as
I think--a very mistaken impression of the national character in the
popular mind.

Public opinion looks at the institution of "The Sabbath" in Scotland;
finds it unparalleled in Christendom for its senseless and savage
austerity; sees a nation content to be deprived by its priesthood of
every social privilege on one day in every week--forbidden to travel;
forbidden to telegraph; forbidden to eat a hot dinner; forbidden to
read a newspaper; in short, allowed the use of two liberties only,
the liberty of exhibiting one's self at the Church and the liberty of
secluding one's self over the bottle--public opinion sees this, and
arrives at the not unreasonable conclusion that the people who submit to
such social laws as these are the most stolid, stern and joyless people
on the face of the earth. Such are Scotchmen supposed to be, when viewed
at a distance. But how do Scotchmen appear when they are seen under a
closer light, and judged by the test of personal experience? There
are no people more cheerful, more companionable, more hospitable, more
liberal in their ideas, to be found on the face of the civilized globe
than the very people who submit to the Scotch Sunday! On the six days
of the week there is an atmosphere of quiet humor, a radiation of genial
common-sense, about Scotchmen in general, which is simply delightful
to feel. But on the