ab
o' me.

"Ay. They gaed oot and in, and throu and throu, and back and fore, and
roon and aboot, till there wasna a nerve or a fibre o' my bein', but
they had twisted it up jist as a spither does a flee afore he sooks the
life oot o' 't. But that's a prolepsis."

"'Are you the librarian?' said she, saft and sma', like hersel'.

"'That I am, mem,' said I. 'My name's Cupples--at your service, mem.'

"'I was looking, Mr Cupples,' said she, 'for some book to help me to
learn Gaelic. I want very much to read Gaelic.'

"'Weel, mem,' said I, 'gin it had been ony o' the Romance languages, or
ony ane o' the Teutonic breed, I micht hae gien ye a lift. But I doot
ye maun bide till ye gang to Edinburgh, or Aberdeen, whaur ye'll easy
fa' in wi' some lang-leggit bejan that'll be prood to instruc' ye, and
coont himsel' ower weel paid wi' the sicht o' yer bonny face.'

"She turned some reid at that, and I was feared that I had angert her.
But she gied a sma' lauch, and oot at the door she gaed, wi' her 'rosy
fleece o' fire' lowin' and glimmerin' aboot her, jist like ane o' the
seraphims that auld Crashaw sings aboot. Only she was gey sma' for a
seraph, though they're nae ower big. Weel, ye see, that was the first
time I saw her. And I thochtna ower muckle mair aboot her. But in a day
or twa there she was again. And she had a hantle to speir at me aboot;
and it took a' the knowledge I had o' buiks in general to answer her
questions. In fac I was whiles compelled to confess my ignorance, which
is no pleesant whan a man wants to stan' weel wi' a bonny crater that
spiers questons. Whan she gaed, I gaed efter her, followin' aboot at
her--i' my thochts, I mean--like a hen efter her ae chucken. She was
bonnier this time than the last. She had tired o' the rosy clood, and
she had on a bonny goon o' black silk, sae modest and sae rich, wi'
diamond buttons up the front o' the briest o' 't. Weel, to mak a lang
story short, and the shorter the better, for it's nae a pleesant ane to
me, she cam aftener and aftener. And she had sae muckle to say and
speir aboot, that at last we had to tak doon buiks, and I had to clear
a neuk o' the table. At lenth I cam to luik for her as reglar as gin
she had been a ghaist, and the time that chappit upo' the auld clock
had belongt to the midnicht instead o' the mornin'. Ye'll be wonnerin'
what like she was. As I tell't ye, she was a wee body, wi' muckle black
een, that lay quaiet in her face and never cam o