“I wad be an unco gowk,” remarked Cosmo, “gien I kent naething, wi’ sic a father as yon o’ mine. What wad ye think o’ yersel’ gien the dochter o’ Jeames Gracie war nae mair wice-like nor Meg Scroggie?”
Agnes laughed, but made no reply, for the voice of her mother came out of the dark:
“Wha’s that, Aggie, ye’re haudin’ sic a confab wi’ in the middle o’ the nicht? Ye tellt me ye had to sit up to yer lessons!”
“I was busy at them, mither, whan Maister Cosmo chappit at the door.”
“Weel, what for lat ye him stan’ there? Ye may hae yer crack wi’ him as lang ’s ye like—in rizzon, that is. Gar him come in.”
“Na, na, mistress Gracie,” answered Cosmo; “I maun awa’ hame; I hae had a gey lang walk. It’s no ’at I’m tired, but I’m gey and sleepy. Only I was sae pleased ’at I was gaein’ to learn my lessons wi’ Maister Simon, ’at I bude to tell Aggie. She micht ha’ been won’erin’, an’ thinkin’ I wasna better, gien she hadna seen me at the schuil the morn.”
“I s’ warran’ her ohn gane to the schuil ohn speirt in at the Castle the first thing i’ the mornin’, an’ seein’ gien the laird had ony eeran’ to the toon. Little cares she for the maister, gien onybody at the Hoose be in want o’ her!”
“Is there naething I cud help ye wi’, Aggie, afore I gang?” asked Cosmo. “Somebody tellt me ye was tryin’ yer han’ at algebra.”
“Naebody had ony business to tell ye ony sic a thing,” returned Aggie, rather angrily. “It’s no at the schuil I wad think o’ sic a ploy. They wad a’ lauch fine! But I wad fain ken what’s intil the thing. I cannot un’erstan’ hoo fowk can coont wi’ letters an’ crosses an’ strokes in place o’ figgers. I hae been at it a haill ook noo—by mysel’, ye ken—an’ I’m nane nearer til ’t yet. I can add an’ subtrac’, accordin’ to the rules gien, but that’s no un’erstan’in’, an’ un’erstan’ I canna.”
“I’m thinkin’ it’s something as gien x was a horse, an’ y was a coo, an’ z was a cairt, or onything ither ye micht hae to ca’ ’t; an’ ye bargain awa’ aboot the x an’ the y and the z , an’ ley the horse i’ the stable, the coo i’ the byre, an’ the cairt i’ the shed, till ye hae sattlet a’.”