e his forbears before him--if there was anything the matter
with him, that he was aye so dowie and heartless? Never shall I forget
the look he gave me as he lifted up his eyes, in which I could see
visible distress painted as plain as the figures of the saints on old
kirk windows; but he told me, with a faint smile, that he had nothing
particular to complain of, only that he would have liked to have died
among his friends, as he could not live from home, and away from the life
he had been accustomed to all his days.

'Od, I was touched to the quick; and when I heard him speaking of death
in such a calm, quiet way, I found something, as if his words were words
of prophecy, and as if I had seen a sign that told me he was not to be
long for this world. Howsoever, I hope I had more sense than to let this
be seen, so I said to him, "Ou, if that be a', Mungo, ye'll soon come to
like us a' well enough. Ye should take a stout heart, man; and when your
prenticeship's done, ye'll gang hame and set up for a great man, making
coats for all the lords and lairds in broad Lammermoor."

"Na, na," answered the callant with a trembling voice, which mostly made
my heart swell to my mouth, and brought the tear to my eye, "I'll never
see the end of my prenticeship, nor Lammermoor again."

"Hout touts, man," quo' I, "never speak in that sort o' way; it's
distrustfu' and hurtful. Live in hope, though we should die in despair.
When ye go home again, ye'll be as happy as ever."

"Eh, na--never, never, even though I was to gang hame the morn. I'll
never be as I was before. I lived and lived on, never thinking that such
days were to come to an end--but now I find it can, and must be
otherwise. The thoughts of my heart have been broken in upon, and
nothing can make whole what has been shivered to pieces."

This was to the point, as Dannie Thummel said to his needle; so just for
speaking's sake, and to rouse him up a bit, I said, "Keh, man, what need
ye care sae muckle about the country?--It'll never be like our bonny
streets, with all the braw shop windows, and the auld kirk; and the
stands with the horn spoons and luggies; and all the carts on the
market-days; and the Duke's gate, and so on."

"Ay, but, maister," answered Mungo, "ye was never brought up in the
country--ye never kent what it was to wander about in the simmer glens,
wi' naething but the warm sun looking down on ye, the blue waters
streaming ower the braes, the birds sin