The three friends had a thousand things to tell and to ask. They all talked at once, while a dirty little nymph, the servant of the house, brought in tea, with many discordant ejaculations. So soon as the excitement had somewhat subsided Shelley proposed a walk, and they went to visit the palace of Mary Stuart. Harriet, as an excellent pupil of the Academy for Young Ladies and a tireless reader of historical romances, explained the history of the unhappy Queen. On leaving Holyrood House Shelley declared he must go home and write letters, but he wished Hogg and Harriet to climb to Arthur’s Seat, whence they would get a view of the whole city. Hogg having admired the scene, they sat there a long time together, and probably in such delightful company he would have found any view admirable. As they came down, the wind having begun to blow, displayed Harriet’s ankles, which Hogg by a side glance examined with interest. This made Harriet sit down again upon a rock and declare she would remain there “for ever”! Hogg who was desperately hungry, protested in vain. So he left her . . . and presently she came running down after him. Thus began for the three young people some delightful weeks. The money question remained an anxious one, but jolly Uncle Pilfold sent frequent presents. “To be confoundedly angry with his son is all very well, but to stop the supplies is a great deal too bad.” Hogg also had some spare cash, although Timothy Shelley had taken the trouble to write to Hogg senior: “I think it my duty to warn you that my young man has just set off for Scotland with a young female, and that your young man has joined them.” Every morning Shelley would go out to fetch his letters, the number of which remained prodigious. After breakfast he worked at a translation of Buffon which he had undertaken, while Hogg and Harriet went for a walk. If the weather were bad she read aloud to Hogg. She was fond of reading aloud and she read remarkably well, with a very distinct enunciation and an agreeable voice. Hogg listened to the greater part of _Télémaque_ and never complained. The virtuous Idomeneus giving wise laws to Crete was horribly boring, but the reader was so lovely to look upon that he would have listened without complaining the whole day through. Shelley, less polite, would sometimes drop off to sleep, and his innocent slumbers gave serious offence. His friend would support his wife in stigmatizing him as an inattentive wretch, Hogg taking an unconscious pleasure in making common cause with Harriet. It was the year of the famous comet and of the still more famous vintage 1811. The nights were clear and bright. CHAPTER X HOGG