Scotland/Scots > Wilson's tales of the Borders and of Scotland > Volume 3

THE DOUBLE-BEDDED BOOM.
209
There is no pleasing one who is predetermined not to be
pleased.
Once, indeed, at a party to which he had been accidentally
invited, he had felt a kind of a sort of a nervous tremulous¬
ness come over him on being set down at the supper table
beside a lady, who, he discovered, was a widow; not from
ner garb, however; for widows—that is, young widows
free of encumbrance—usually dress themselves in a much
gayer manner than they were wont to do when “ nice young
maidens.” He had made himself as agreeable as it was in
his power to do, drinking wine with her at least half-a-
dozen times, and otherwise doing, as he supposed, “the.
polite.” Nay, he even went so far as to volunteer his ser¬
vices in seeing her home; and on the way over (she was
from the country, and, pro tempore, resided with a friend
in Bruntisfield Place, fronting the Links), he had the bold¬
ness to pop the question. He was accepted, and invited
to breakfast with the lady the following morning. The
morning came; but Andrew did not go—the fumes of the
wine having subsided, and “ Eichard being himself again.”
He had taken a second thought on the subject, and de¬
termined on remaining a bachelor ; by which arrangement
the Widow Brown was, like Lord Ullin for his daughter,
“left lamenting.” Who her husband had been? whether
she had money ? what was her situation in life ? were what
Andrew tried long and earnestly to discover, but in vain
—the Widow Brown seemed wrapped in mystery; and,
from that hour, when he imprinted a kiss upon her lips,
under a lamp-post, at two o’clock in the morning, in Brunt¬
isfield Place, he had neither seen nor heard of her. Years
—six in number—had elapsed since then, and Andrew
had not ventured to accept another invitation to an evening
party; but, as soon as his business for the day was over, he
returned to his solitary lodging in Richmond Street; and.
for the remainder of the evening, followed the example of the