We asked where we could get a cup of coffee, and were
directed to a fine reading-room opposite, where we adjourned to read our
letters and reply to them with the accompaniment of coffee and light
refreshments. The building had been erected by the Sutherland family,
and was well patronised, and we wished that we might meet with similar
places in other towns where we happened to call. Such as we found
farther south did not appear to be appreciated by the class of people
for whom they were chiefly intended. This may be accounted for by the
fact that the working-class Scots were decidedly more highly educated
than the English. We were not short of company, and we heard a lot of
gossip, chiefly about what was going on at the castle.
On inquiring about our next stage, we were told that it involved a
twenty-five-mile walk through an uninhabited country, without a village
and with scarcely a house on the road. The distance we found afterwards
had been exaggerated, but as it was still raining and the shades of
evening were coming on, with our recent adventures still fresh in our
minds and the letter my brother expected not having yet arrived, we
agreed to spend the night at Golspie, resolving to make an early start
on the following morning.
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