At length the more solid part of the meal was removed, and they were left alone, fruit upon the table, and two wine-decanters. From one of them the earl helped himself, then passed it to Donal, saying,
“You are very good to my little Davie, Mr. Grant! He is full of your kindness to him. There is nobody like you!”
“A little goes a long way with Davie, my lord,” answered Donal.
“Then much must go a longer way!” said the earl.
There was nothing remarkable in the words, yet he spoke them with the difficulty a man accustomed to speak, and to weigh his words, might find in clothing a new thought to his satisfaction. The effort seemed to have tried him, and he took a sip of wine. This, however, he did after every briefest sentence he uttered: a sip only he took, nothing like a mouthful.
Donal told him that Davie, of all the boys he had known, was far the quickest, and that just because he was morally the most teachable.
“You greatly gratify me, Mr. Grant,” said the earl. “I have long wished such a man as you for Davie. If only I had known you when Forgue was preparing for college!”
“I must have been at that time only at college myself, my lord!”
“True! true!”
“But for Davie, it is a privilege to teach him!”