EARLY in the morning of an autumn day a commercial traveller named Archibald Allison arrived in Edinburgh from the South. He had left London the previous night by the London and North-Western Railway, and his business route lay through the principal towns of Scotland, which he was in the habit of visiting about every three months. He represented the firm of Privet, Prescott & Lyle, manufacturing jewellers, of London and Birmingham. It was a very large house, with a world- wide connection, and they gave employment to quite an army of people. To the “trade” all over the country they were exceedingly well known, and their names were a guarantee for good material and excellent workmanship.
Allison had been in their service for nearly thirty years, and was not only highly respected, but unboun
