"
"Wadna ye hae a word wi' somebody 'at kens, my lord?" said Malcolm,
scarcely able to reply.
"No," answered the marquis fiercely. "That Cairns is a fool."
"He's a' that, an' mair, my lord. I didna mean _him_."
"They're all fools together."
"Ow, na, my lord. There's a heap o' them no muckle better, it may be;
but there's guid men an' true amang them, or the Kirk wad hae been wi'
Sodom and Gomorrah by this time. But it's no a minister I wad hae yer
lordship confar wi'."
"Who, then? Mrs. Courthope, eh?"
"Ow na, my lord--no Mistress Courthoup. She's a guid body, but she
wadna believe her ain een gien onybody ca'd a minister said contrar'
to them."
"Who the devil do you mean, then?"
"Nae deevil, but an honest man 'at's been his warst enemy sae lang 's
I hae kent him--Maister Graham, the schuil-maister."
"Pooh!" said the marquis with a puff. "I'm too old to go to school."
"I dinna ken the man 'at isna a bairn till _him_, my lord."
"In Greek and Latin?"
"I' richteousness an' trouth, my lord--in what's been an' what is to
be."
"What! has he the second sight, like the piper?"
"He _has_ the second sicht, my lord, but ane 'at gangs a sicht farther
nor my auld daddy's."
"He could tell me, then, what's going to become of me?"
"As weel 's ony man, my lord."
"That's not saying much, I fear."
"Maybe mair nor ye think, my lord."
"Well, take him my compliments and tell him I should like to see him,"
said the marquis after a minute's silence.
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