“He's 'ill made tae begin wi',” Drumsheugh explained in the kirkyard next Sabbath, “and ye ken he's been terrible mishannelled by accidents, sae ye may think what like it wes, but, as sure as deith, o' a' the Hielan flings a' ever saw yon wes the bonniest.
“A' hevna shaken ma ain legs for thirty years, but a' confess tae a turn masel. Ye may lauch an' ye like, neeburs, but the thocht o' Bell an' the news that wes waitin' her got the better o' me.”
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Drumtochty did not laugh. Drumtochty looked as if it could have done quite otherwise for joy.
“A' wud hae made a third gin a hed been there,” announced Hillocks, aggressively.
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“Come on, Drumsheugh,” said Jamie Soutar, “gie's the end o't; it wes a michty mornin'.”
“'We're twa auld fules,' says MacLure tae me, and he gaithers up his claithes. 'It wud set us better tae be tellin' Bell.'