ll them a' aboot it. It wad brak my hert to pairt
wi' the buiks afore I got them pitten in dacent order. Faith! I wadna
lie still i' my coffin. I wad be thrawin' and turnin', and curfufflin'
a' my win'in' sheet, sae that I wadna be respectable whan I bude to get
up again. Sae ye maunna lat them think that I'm ower drucken for the
buiks to keep company wi', ye ken."

Alec promised to do all he could to keep such a false conclusion from
entering the minds of the senatus, and, satisfied that he would best
serve the interests of Mr Cupples by doing so at once, set off for
college, to call on the professors before lectures.

The moment he was out of the room, Mr Cupples got out of bed, and
crawled to the cupboard. To his mortification, however, he found that
what his landlady had said was in the main true; for the rascals had
not left a spoonful either in the bottle which he used as a decanter,
or in the store-bottle called the _tappit (crested) hen_ by way of
pre-eminence. He drained the few drops which had gathered from the
sides of the latter, for it was not in two halves as she had
represented, and crawled back to bed. A fresh access of fever was the
consequence of the exertion. It was many days before he was able to
rise.

After the morning-classes were over, Alec went to tell Mr Fraser, the
only professor whom he had not already seen, about his adventure, and
the consequences of the librarian's generous interference.

"I was uneasy about you, Mr Forbes," said the professor, "for I heard
from your friend Beauchamp that you had got into a row with the
blackguards, but he did not know how you had come off."

His friend Beauchamp! How did he know about it? And when could he have
told Mr Fraser?--But Kate entered, and Alec forgot Beauchamp. She
hesitated, but advanced and held out her hand. Alec took it, but felt
it tremble in his with a backward motion as of reluctance, and he knew
that another thickness of the parting veil had fallen between her and
him.

"Will you stay and take tea with us?" asked the professor. "You never
come to see us now."

Alec stammered out an unintelligible excuse.

"Your friend Beauchamp will be here," continued Mr Fraser.

"I fear Mr Beauchamp is no friend of mine," said Alec.

"Why do you think that? He speaks very kindly of you--always."

Alec made no reply. Ugly things were vaguely showing themselves through
a fog.

Kate left the room.

"You had better stay," said the old man