Wat, ye ken as weel as
me, ye micht seek east an' west through Glesca an' no' get sic anither.
He's ower honest. You raise his wages, or he'll quit, if I should seek a
place for him mysel'.'

The calm self-assertion of Liz, which had something almost queenly in
it, compelled the respect of the old man, and he even smiled a little
across the table to the chair where she sat quite at her ease,
delivering herself of these remarkably plain statements. In his inmost
soul he even enjoyed them, and felt a trifle sorry when Gladys appeared,
ready to go. Liz sprang up at once, and favoured the old miser with a
gracious nod by way of farewell.

'Guid-nicht to ye, then, an' mind what I've said. I was in deid earnest,
an' I'm richt, as ye'll maybe live to prove. An' mind that there's ower
wee a pickle angels in Glesca for the ither kind, and we'd better tak'
care o' what we hae.'

[Illustration]

CHAPTER VIII.

EDGED TOOLS.

'Noo, whaur wad ye like to gang?' inquired Liz, as they shut the outer
door behind them.

'Anywhere; it is pleasant to be out, only the air is not _very_ good
here. Do you think it is?'

'Maybe no'. We'll look at the shops first, onyhoo, an' then we'll gang
an' meet Teen Ba'four. D'ye mind Teen?'

'Oh yes. Is she quite well? She looked so ill that day I saw her. I
could not forget her face.'

'Oh, she's well enough, I think. I never asks. Oor kind gangs on till
they drap, an' then they maistly dee,' said Liz cheerfully. 'But Teen
will hing on a while yet--she's tough. I dinna see her very often. My
mither disna like her. She brings me the _Reader_ on Fridays. Eh,
wummin, "Lord Bellew's Bride" is finished. Everything was cleared up at
the end, an' the young man Lord Bellew was jealous o' turns oot to be
only her brither. The last chapter tells aboot the christenin' o' the
heir, an' she wears a white brocade goon, trimmed wi' real pearls an'
ostrich feathers. Fancy you an' me in a frock like that! Wad it no' mak'
a' the difference?'

'I don't know, I'm sure. I never thought of it,' answered Gladys,
quietly amused.

'Hae ye no'? I often think o'd. If I lived in a big hoose, rode in a
carriage, an' wore a silk dress every day, I wad be happy, an' guid too,
maybe. It's easy to be guid when ye are rich.'

'The Bible doesn't say so. Don't you remember how it explains that it is
so hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven?'

Liz looked round in a somewhat scared manner into her co