Page:Martha Spreull by Zachary Fleming.pdf/46

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AVING let my rooms in George Street to a decent tyler body wi' a guid gaun business, I flitted to a hoose o' four rooms an' kitchen i' the West-en'. I took this step pairtly under the advice o' Maister Fleming, wha said I could afford to leeve in a genteel locality, an' pairtly because I wud be better able to owertake the work o' the bursary minted in a former chapter, from being within easy reach o' the College. But let me tell ye first and foremost, when it got to the public ear that I meant to found a bursary, the thing raised an uncommon soogh, insomuch that it caused some tongues to wag at the rate o' nae allooance. I found this oot in a gey simple and natural wye. A few days efter the bursary business wis settled atween Maister Fleming an' mysel', I inveeted my auld freen' an' neebor Mrs. Warnock—wife o' the pastry baker o' that name in George Street—to come west and tak' a cup o' tea wi' me, an' gie me the news.

Bein' the first time Mrs. Warnock had been in my new hoose, and as she wis sairly troubled wi' cauld feet, I gied her a