off the potatoes.

'Hulloa, Wat, what's up?' inquired the old man, as genuinely surprised
as his wife had been to see his son.

'I heard Liz was in Glasgow, and I came to see if she was here,'
answered Walter. 'So you're working again? I must say work agrees with
you, father; you look a different man.'

'Oh, I'm no' past wark. If I like, I can dae my darg wi' ony man,' he
replied rather ironically. 'Pit oot the kale, Leezbeth, or we'll be
burnt to daith. Are ye slack yersel' that ye can come ower here at wan
o'clock in the day?'

'I'm slacker than I was,' said Walter, 'but I can't complain, either.'

'An' what was that ye said aboot Liz, that she was here in Glesca?
Weel, if she is, she's never lookit near. It's gentry bairns we hae,
Leezbeth; let's be thankfu' for them.'

This mild sarcasm did not greatly affect Walter, he was too familiar
with it.

'I heard she had been seen, but perhaps it was a mistake. It must have
been, or she would surely have come here. You are working at
Stevenson's, mother says; will it be permanent?'

'I'll see. It depends on hoo I feel,' replied the old man complacently.
'I've been in waur places, an' the gaffer's very slack. He disna work a
ten-hoors' day ony mair than the rest o's.'

'Though you are paid for it, I suppose?' said Walter.

'Ay, but naebody but a born fule will kill himsel' unless he's made
dae't,' was the reply.

'I wouldn't keep a man who didn't do a fair day's work for a fair day's
wage, nor would you,' said Walter. 'I believe that nobody would make
more tyrannical masters than working men themselves, just as women who
have been servants themselves make the most exacting mistresses.'

'This is Capital speakin' noo, Leezbeth,' said his father very
sarcastically. 'It's kind o' amusin'. We're the twa sides, as it
were--Capital and Labour. Ye've no' been lang o' forgettin' whaur ye
sprang frae, my man.'

Walter's father had been a skilful workman in his day, with an
intelligence above the average; had he kept from drink, there is no
doubt he would have risen from the ranks. Even yet gleams of the old
spirit which had often displayed itself at workmen's meetings and
demonstrations would occasionally shine forth. Walter was thankful to
see it, and after spending a comparatively pleasant hour with them, he
went his way with a lighter and happier feeling about them than he had
experienced for many a day.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XXX.

TOO LATE!

Ge