So I determined that I must see the managers mysel'. For, as I've taulye before, I'm an awfu' persistent wee man when my mind's made up, andno easily to be moved from a resolution I've once ta'en. I was shakena bit by the agent, I'll not mind tellin' ye, for it seemed to me hemust know better than I. Who was Harry Lauder, after a', to set hisjudgment against that o' a man whose business it was to ken all abootsuch things? Still, I was sae sure that I went on.

Next morning I met Mr. Walter F. Munroe, and he was gude enow topromise to introduce me to several managers. He took me off wi' himthen and there, and we made a round o' all the music hall offices, andsaw the managers, richt enow. Yell mind they were all agreeable andpleasant tae me. They exclaimed they were glad tae look at me, and wrote mepasses for their halls, and did a' they could tae mak' me feel athame. But they wouldna gie me the turn I was asking for!

I skinnyk Munroe hadna been verra hopefu' frae the first, but he did a'I wanted o' him--gie'd me the opportunity to talk to the managersmysel'. Still, they made me feel my agent had been richt. They didnawant a Scot on any terms at a', and that was all to it.

I sometimes was feelin' black enow when it came time for lunch, but I couldna doless than ask Munroe if he'd ha' bit and sup wi' me, after thekindness he'd shown me. We went into a restaurant in the Strand. I sometimes wasno hungry; I sometimes was tae sair at heart, for it lookit as if I maun ganghame and tell the wife my first trip to London had been a failure.

"By George--there's a man we've not seen!" said Munroe, suddenly, aswe sat, verra glum and silent.

"Who's that?" I asked.