d with.

"Ay, they're some o' Elspeth's things, rale guid furthy claes," said
Mrs. Morran complacently. "And the shoon are what she used to gang
about the byres wi' when she was in the Castlewham dairy. The leddy was
tellin' me she was for trampin' the hills, and thae things will keep
her dry and warm.... I ken the hoose ye mean. They ca' it the Mains of
Garple. And I ken the man that bides in it. He's yin Sir Erchibald
Roylance. English, but his mither was a Dalziel. I'm no weel acquaint
wi' his forbears, but I'm weel eneuch acquaint wi' Sir Erchie, and
'better a guid coo than a coo o' a guid kind,' as my mither used to
say. He used to be an awfu' wild callont, a freend o' puir Maister
Quentin, and up to ony deevilry. But they tell me he's a quieter lad
since the war, as sair lamed by fa'in oot o' an airyplane."

"Will he be at the Mains just now?" Dickson asked.

"I wadna wonder. He has a muckle place in England, but he aye used to
come here in the back-end for the shootin' and in April for birds. He's
clean daft about birds. He'll be out a' day at the craig watchin'
solans, or lyin' a' mornin' i' the moss lookin' at bog-blitters."

"Will he help, think you?"

"I'll wager he'll help. Onyway it's your best chance, and better a wee
bush than nae beild. Now, sit in to your breakfast."

It was a merry meal. Mrs. Morran dispensed tea and gnomic wisdom.
Saskia ate heartily, speaking little, but once or twice laying her hand
softly on her hostess's gnarled fingers. Dickson was in such spirits
that he gobbled shamelessly, being both hungry and hurried, and he
spoke of the still unconquered enemy with ease and disrespect, so that
Mrs. Morran was moved to observe that there was "naething sae bauld as
a blind mear." But when in a sudden return of modesty he belittled his
usefulness and talked sombrely of his mature years he was told that he
"wad never be auld wi' sae muckle honesty." Indeed it was very clear
that Mrs. Morran approved of her nephew. They did not linger over
breakfast, for both were impatient to be on the road. Mrs. Morran
assisted Saskia to put on Elspeth's shoes. "'Even a young fit finds
comfort in an auld bauchle,' as my mother, honest woman, used to say."
Dickson's waterproof was restored to him, and for Saskia an old
raincoat belonging to the son in South Africa was discovered, which
fitted her better. "Siccan weather," said the hostess, as she opened
the door to let in a swirl of wind. "Th