Ae thing's sure as deith
itsel', he was ta'en suddent, an' i' the verra hoose whaur, mony a
lang year afore, he commitit the deed o' darkness!"
A pause followed, and then the narrator, or rather commentator,
resumed.
"I'm thinkin' whan he begud to ken himsel' growin' auld, his deed
cam back upon 'im fresh-like, an' that wad be hoo he cudna bide to
hae my lady oot o' the sicht o' his een, or at least ayont the cry
o' his tongue. Troth! he wad whiles come aboot the place efter her,
whaur I wad be at my wark, as it micht be the day, cursin' an'
sweirin' as gien he had sellt his sowl to a' the deevils thegither,
an' sae micht tak his wull o' onything he cud get his tongue roon'!
But I never heedit him that muckle, for ye see it wasna him 'at
peyt me--the mair by token 'at gien it had been him 'at had the
peyin' o' me, it's never a baubee wad I hae seen o' my ain siller;
but the trustees peyt me, ilka plack, an' sae I was indepen'ent
like, an' luit him say his say. But it was aye an oonsaitisfactory
kin' o' a thing, for the trustees they caredna a bodle aboot
keepin' the place dacent, an' tuik sae sma' delicht in ony
pleesurin' o' the auld lord,'at they jist allooed him me, an' no a
man mair nor less--to the gairden, that is. That's hoo the place
comes to be in sic a disgracefu' condeetion. Gien it hadna been for
rizzons o' my ain, I wad hae gane, mony's the time, for the sicht
o' the ruin o' things was beyon' beirin'.
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