ock thoughtfully, "ye nearly brak' my heart when I was
the grieve at the Folds, an' cam' owre in the forenichts to coort ye.
D'ye mind hoo ye used to sit on my knee, and I used to sing,

'My love she's but a lassie yet'?"

"I mind no siccan things," said Mistress M'Quhirr. "Weel do ye ken that
when ye cam' aboot the mill I was but a wee toddlin' bairn rinnin' after
the dyukes in the yaird. It's like aneuch that I sat on your knee. I hae
some mind o' you haudin' your muckle turnip watch to my lug for me to
hear it tick."

"Aweel, aweel, Mary," he said placably, "it's like aneuch that was it.
Thae auld times are apt to get a kennin' mixter-maxter in yin's held."

We got little more out of him till once the bairns were shooed off to
their beds, and the wife had been in three times at them with the broad
of her loof to make them behave themselves. But ultimately Tammock
Thackanraip agreed to spend the night with us. I saw that he wanted to
open out something by ourselves, after the kitchen was clear and the men
off to the stable.

So on the back of nine we took the book, and then drew round the red
glow of the fire in the kitchen. It is the only time in the day that the
mistress allows me to put my feet on the jambs, which is the only way
that a man can get right warmed up, from foundation to rigging, as one
might say. In this position we waited for Tammock to begin--or rather I
waited, for the wife sat quietly in the corner knitting her stocking.

"I was thinkin' o' takin' a wife gin I could get a guid, faceable-like
yin," said Tammock, thumbing the dottle down.

"Ay?" said I, and waited.

"Ye see, I'm no' as young as I yince was, and I need somebody sair."

"But I thocht aye that ye were lookin' at Tibby o' the Hilltap," said
the mistress.

"I was," said Thomas sententiously. He stroked his leg with one hand
softly, as though it had been a cat's back.

Now, Tibby o' the Hilltap was the farmer's daughter, a belle among the
bachelors, but one who had let so many lads pass her by, that she was
thought to be in danger of missing a down-sefting after all. But Tammock
had long been faithful.

"I'll gang nae mair to yon toun," said Tammock.

"Hoots, haivers!" (this was Mistress M'Quhirr's favourite expression);
"an' what for no'? What said she, Tammock, to turn you frae the
Hilltap?"

"She said what settled me," said Tammock a little sadly. "I'm thinkin'
there's nocht left for't but to tak' Bell Mulwhulter, th