Page:Martha Spreull by Zachary Fleming.pdf/29

Rh before the kitchen fire, and set the tea things for twa in the parlour, and by and by we had a gey cosy tea. I should have telt ye that Maister Pringle wisna ane o' my laddie ludgers. It wis late in life when he gied up his schule in Bell's Wynd and determined on being a minister. I fear he hadna muckle amang his hands when he entered the College first; but what wi' teachin' in nicht-schules and giving private lessons during the day, he had managed, wi' six months' board frae me without fee or reward, to pass himsel' through the second session o' the Divinity Hall.

Weel, Maister Fleming had brocht me wonnerfu' news, and, as I fancied my guest maybe had some trouble on him, I gaed awa' to the press, filled up a gless o' whisky, and put it in his last cup, just to gie him a wee thocht o' life.

"Thank ye," says he; "that's what they used to do aboot Balfron when I was a boy. There never was a tea-drinking there without a guid gless o' whisky i' the last cup."

If ye'll believe me, the whole thing wis dune oot o' doonricht peety for the man, he lookit sae miserable-like; but I never jaloused what it wud lead to. When he had taen aff his dram, which he did wi' mair relish than I cared for, he hoasted twice, as if he had something in his throat.