ancy--I'm owre grieved as it
is--I can stand no more!'

"The loss o' the three hundred pounds, wi' the bill business, and the
ninety just mentioned, made me to stagger, and those that knew about the
circumstances wondered how I stood them. But I had just begun a new
concern, which was the manufacture o' table-cloths upon a new principle,
and with exceedingly splendid patterns. I got an extraordinary sale for
them, and orders came pouring in upon me. But I had to employ more men to
fulfil them, and their wages were to pay every Saturday, while the
remittances did not come in by half so regular as the orders, and I found
it was not easy to pay men without receiving money for their work. Had I
been a man o' a great capital, the case might have been different. There
was one day, however, that a gentleman that had dealt wi' me very
extensively called upon me, and he gied me a very excellent order. But,
although he had seen a great deal o' my goods, I never had seen the shadow
o' his cash. I canna say that I exactly liked his manner o' doing business;
yet I couldna, for the breath that was in my body, have the face to say an
impertinent thing to ony one, and I was just telling him that his order
should be attended to, when my wife, who was sitting in a room off the
parlour, gave a tap upon the door, and, asking the gentleman to excuse me
for a minute, I stepped ben, and I half whispered to her--'What is it,
dear?'

"'Has that man spoken about paying ye?' said she.

"'No,' said I.

"'But I think it is time he was,' quoth she, 'before ye trust him ony
farther. Remember that ye have men's wages to pay, and accounts to pay, and
a wife and family to support, and those things canna be done upon nothing.'

"'Very true, dearie,' said I; 'but ye wouldna have me to speak abruptly to
the gentleman, or to affront him?'

"'It will affront no gentleman,' replied she--'at least, no honest man--to
ask him for what is your own. Therefore, ask him for your money. Remember,
Nicholas, that the simple man is the beggar's brother.'

"'O dear, woman!' says I, 'ye ken I dinna like to hear thae words. I'll ask
the gentleman to pay me--to be sure I will; and what is the use o' your
keeping tease, teasing at a body, just as if I were a simpleton.'

"So I slipped back to the customer, and, after a few words about his order,
I said to him--'Sir, ye understand I have men's wages to pay, and accounts
to pay, and a wife and family to support, and it