, an' I think he's gotten't," says
he. "Him an' me's square noo."

They gaed back to Stumpie's cellar, an' gin this time there were twenty
laddies an' twa pileece roond the door.

"It's Pottie Lawson gane daft," said the laddies to the pileece. "He's
foamin' at the moo."

Efter an awfu' wey o' doin' they got Pottie haled oot o' the cellar an'
hame; an' it's my opinion he'll never be seen in oor washin'-hoose
again; an' I'm shure I'll no' brak' my heart.

But aboot the can'le an' the ink--you mibby winder hoo Sandy manished
to stamack them. I gaed in an' smelt the ink. It was sugarelly
watter, an' the can'le had been cut oot o' a neep an' laid juist whaur
it was handy.

Ye never heard sic lauchin' as there's been sin' the story eekit oot.
Sandy's heid pillydakus amon' them a' noo, an' they think he's peyed
aff Pottie wi' compound interest. It's made Pottie fearder than ever;
they tell me he's been looking efter a job at the Freek bleechin,', so
as to get awa' oot o' the toon for a while.

XX.

SANDY'S APOLOGIA.

"Are ye there, Sandy? Sandy, are ye there? Sandy! I winder whaur
that man'll be? He'll gae awa' an' leave the shop stanin' open to the
street, as gin it were a byre, an' never think naething aboot it! Are
ye there, Sandy?" I heard Bawbie sayin' in her bed the ither mornin'.

"Ay, I'm here," says I. "What are ye yalp-yalpin' at? What d'ye want?
I had throo to the cellar to rin for tatties to Mistress Hasties. What
was ye wantin'?"

"See, look! Ye micht pet the pot on the fire there, an' warm that
drappie pottit-hoach brue; an' ye'll tak' it alang to Mary Emslie,"
said Bawbie. "Puir cratur, she's gotten her death o' cauld some wey or
ither, an' I think she's smittit her bairnie; for when I was yont
yesterday forenune, the puir little thingie was near closed
a'thegither. Juist poor the brue into the flagon, Sandy, an' open the
second lang drawer there, an' ye'll get some bits o' things rowed
thegither, an' tak' them alang an' gie them to Mary. Turn the
lookin'-gless roond this wey a bittie on the dresser there, an I'll
notice in't if onybody comes into the shop, an' tell them to hover a
blink till ye rin yont to Mary's. Rin noo, Sandy, an' speer at Mary if
she has coals an' sticks, an' tell her to keep on a gude fire. Puir
cratur!"

"Mary's a fell lot better the day, she thinks, Bawbie," says I, when I
cam' back; "an' she tell'd me the nurse had been in an' snoddit up her
hoo