'What for did ye that? What gart ye be at that expense, whan ye kent I had a bed i' the ga'le-room?'
'Weel, ye see, they're auld frien's o' mine, and I like to gang to them whan I'm i' the gait o' 't.'
'Weel, they're a fine faimily, the Miss Napers. And, I wat, sin' they maun sell drink, they du 't wi' discretion. That's weel kent.'
Possibly Mr. Lammie, remembering what then occurred, may have thought the discretion a little in excess of the drink, but he had other matters to occupy him now. For a few moments both were silent.
'There's been some ill news, they tell me, Mrs. Faukner,' he said at length, when the silence had grown painful.
'Humph!' returned the old lady, her face becoming stony with the effort to suppress all emotion. 'Nae aboot Anerew?'
''Deed is 't, mem. An' ill news, I'm sorry to say.'
'Is he ta'en?'
'Ay is he—by a jyler that winna tyne the grup.'
'He's no deid, John Lammie? Dinna say 't.'