'Tit, tit! Aboot the enlistin', I meant. But I'll no ask ye that.
They wud be prood, onyway.'
'Ma uncle's raised ma wages, an' they're to be payed a' the time
I'm awa'.'
'Shakespeare! That's a proper uncle to ha'e! But dinna be tempted to stop awa' till ye're a millionaire. Oh, here's Miss Tod. Keep calm. She'll no bite ye.'
The little elderly woman who entered had made the acquaintance of Macgregor in his early courting days, especially during the period wherein he had squandered his substance in purchases of innumerable and unnecessary lead pencils, etcetera, doubtless with a view to acquiring merit in her eyes as well as in her assistant's.
She now proceeded to hold his hand, patting it tenderly, while she murmured 'brave lad' over and over again, to his exquisite embarrassment.
'But ye'll bate the nesty Rooshians, dearie—I meant for to say the Prooshians, Christina—an' ye'll come marchin' hame a conductor or an inspector, or whatever they ca' it, wi' medals on yer breist an' riches in yer purse——'
'An' rings on his fingers an' bells——'
'Noo, noo, lassie, ye're no to mak' fun o' me! Whaur's his case?'
Christina handed her an aluminium cigarette case—the best in the shop—and she presented it to Macgregor, saying: 'Ye're no to gang an' hurt yer health wi' smokin'; but when ye tak' a ceegarette, ye'll maybe gi'e a thocht to an auld body that'll be rememberin' ye, baith mornin' an' nicht.'
'If he smokes his usual, he'll be thinkin' o' ye every twinty meenutes,' remarked the girl, and drawing on her gloves, she came round to the door in order to close an interview which threatened to become lugubrious for all parties.