sofa into the
washin'-hoose, him an' twa-three mair's never lain oot o't. Lyin'
smokin' an' spittin' an' crackin' aboot life bein' a trauchle, an' so
on! I tell you, if it had lested muckle langer, I'd gien them a bucket
o' water sweesh aboot their lugs some day; that's juist as fac's ocht.

But I maun tell you aboot my mischanter wi' my noo buits. I'm sure it
has fair delighted Sandy. He thinks he's gotten a hair i' my neck noo
that'll haud him gaen a while. He was needin't, I can tell you. If
ilky mairter he's made had been a hair in his neck, I'll swag, there
wudna been room for mony fairntickles.

Weel, I gaed awa' to the kirk lest Sabbath--Sandy, of coorse, cudna get
oot wi' his yallow face an' neck. He had a bran poultice on't to see
if it wud do ony guid. I canna do wi' noo buits ava, till I've worn
them a while. I pet them on mibby to rin an errand or twa, till they
get the set o' my fit, an' syne I can manish them to the kirk. But I
canna sit wi' noo buits; they're that uneasy. I got a noo pair lest
Fursday, an' tried them on on Sabbath mornin'. But na, na! Altho' my
auld anes were gey binkit, an' worn doon at the heels, I juist put them
on gey hurried, an' aff I set to the kirk, leavin' Sandy to look efter
the denner.

I was feelin' akinda queerish when I startit; but I thocht it was juist
the hurry, an' that a breath o' the caller air wud mak' me a' richt.
But faigs, mind ye, instead o' better I grew waur. My legs were like
to double up aneth me, an' my knees knokit up acrain' ane anither
like's they'd haen a pley aboot something. I fand a sweit brakin' oot
a' ower me, an' I had to stop on the brae an' grip the railin's, or,
it's juist as fac's ocht, I wudda been doon i' the road on the braid o'
my back. I thocht I was in for a roraborialis, or some o' thae
terriple diseases. Eh, I was feard I wud dee on the open street; I was
that! Mysie Meldrum noticed me, an' she cam' rinnin' to speer what was
ado.

"I've taen an awfu' dwam, Mysie," says I. "I think I'm genna dee. Ye
micht juist sit doon on the railin's aside's till the fowk be by."

"I think we're aboot the henmost, Bawbie," says she. "We're gey late;
but I'll bide aside you, lassie."

We sat for the maitter o' ten meenits, an' I got akinda roond, an'
thocht I wud try an' get hame. Mistress Kenawee had putten on her
tatties an' come oot for a dander a bittie, an' noticed the twa o's; so
she cam' up, an' I got her airm an' Mysi