There are always bright fires there, and hot water, and old soft leather armchairs, and an aroma of good food and good tobacco, and giant trout in glass cases, and pictures of Captain Barclay of Urie walking to London and Mr.Ramsay of Barnton winning a horse-race, and the three-volume edition of the Waverley Novels with many volumes missing, and indeed all those things which an inn should have.

Also there used to be--there may still be--sound vintage claret in the cellars.

The Black Bull expects its guests to arrive in every stage of dishevelment, and Dickson was received by a cordial landlord, who offered dry garments as a matter of course.

The pack proved to have resisted the elements, and a suit of clothes and slippers were provided by the house.

Dickson, after a glass of toddy, wallowed in a hot bath, which washed all the stiffness out of him.