'
'Ye didna tak it, Shargar?' asked Robert in some alarm.
'Ay did I. Catch me no taking a shillin'!'
'But they'll haud ye till 't.'
'Na, na. I'm ower shochlin' (in-kneed) for a sodger. But that man
was nae sodger.'
'And what mair said he?'
'He speirt what I wad do wi' the shillin'.'
'And what said ye?'
'Ow! syne ye cam' oot, and he gaed awa'.'
'And ye dinna ken wha it was?' repeated Robert.
'It was some like my brither, Lord Sandy; but I dinna ken,' said
Shargar.
By this time they had arrived at Yule the baker's shop.
'Bide ye here,' said Robert, who happened to possess a few coppers,
'till I gang into Eel's.'
Shargar stood again and shivered at the door, till Robert came out
with a penny loaf in one hand, and a twopenny loaf in the other.
'Gie's a bit, Bob,' said Shargar. 'I'm as hungry as I am cauld.'
'Bide ye still,' returned Robert. 'There's a time for a' thing, and
your time 's no come to forgather wi' this loaf yet. Does na it
smell fine? It's new frae the bakehoose no ten minutes ago. I ken
by the fin' (feel) o' 't.'
'Lat me fin' 't,' said Shargar, stretching out one hand, and feeling
his shilling with the other.
'Na. Yer han's canna be clean. And fowk suld aye eat clean, whether
they gang clean or no.'
'I'll awa' in an' buy ane oot o' my ain shillin',' said Shargar, in
a tone of resolute eagerness.
'Ye'll do naething o' the kin',' returned Robert, darting his hand
at his collar.
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