ted in a
buik?"

The thing did indeed strike me as strange, but I desired to keep Birsay
to his story, so I only said:

"But, Birsay, what did the auld man say to them when he heard them
misca'in' you?"

"Oh, he e'en telled them that it wad fit them better to look to their
ain life an' conversation. An' that it wad be tellin' them yae day, gin
they had made as guid a job o' their life wark as Birsay made o' his
bits o' shoon--a maist sensible an' just observe! Faith, the auld tog is
nane sae ill an auld carle, though siccan a dour an' maisterfu' Whig. He
kens guid leather wark when he sees it!

"So when they were a' sittin' gey an' shame-faced under this
reproof--_whang_! Doon on the hearthstane fell my suitor's elshin--the
cankersome thing had slippit oot o' my pooch an' drappit ower the edge
o' the hole in the laft aboon the fireplace.

"'Preserve us,' I thought to mysel', 'it's a' by wi' Birsay noo. They'll
be up the stair swarmin' like a bee's byke.' But when I keeked it ower,
they were a' sittin' gapin' at the elshin that had stottit on to the
floor. An' what wi' me steerin' an' lookin' ower the edge, _clash_ fell
my braid knife, that I cut the leather wi', oot o' my pooch!

"It fell on the clean stane, an' then lap to the side, nearly on to the
knees o' a great fat gussie o' a loon they ca' Jock Wabster. An' Jock
was in siccan a hurry to get oot o' the road o' the thing--for he thocht
it wasna canny--that he owerbalanced himsel', and, certes! ower he gaed
amang the lassies, stool an' a', wi' an awesome clatter. An' a' the
lassies cried oot wi' fricht an' gruppit the lad they likit best--for
there's a deal o' human nature even amang the Whigs, that the Covenants
canna fettle, nor yet Effectual Callin' keep in bounds, and nae doot
there's Reason Annexed for that too!

"My sang, but whan Auld Anton got him straucht on his chair again,
whatna tongue-threshin' did he no gie the lassies, an' indeed a' the
lave o' them. He caa'ed them for a'thing that was bad, an' telled them
what kin' o' black ill consciences they bood hae, to be feared o' a wee
bit thing that was but wood an' airn. But when they showed him the knife
whaur it lay glintin' on the hearth (for nae man o' them daured to touch
it), Anton was a wee bit staggered himsel', an' said it was a sign sent
to reprove them for speakin' aboot puir Birsay on a Sabbath nicht. 'It
was a deil's portent,' he said, 'an' nae mortal man ever forged that
steel, an' gin