"It may be so, for I see that, in thine own house, thou art but Joan Tamson's man, as the saw has it."
The landlord gave a sickly smile.
"Harkee, gudeman, is thy better-half a Hamilton?"
"To my sorrow, I ken she is, sir," sighed the hosteller, in a whisper; "for never one of her name enters Fife, between the East and West Neuk, without lying a week and mair at the King's Horn, and never a bodle will she take for the lawing, for they are a' her cousins to the hundredth degree, and will scarcely let me call my soul my ain."
"Then, which of her worthy cousins are here now?"
"Sir John Hamilton of Kincavil," replied the gudeman, setting his teeth on edge.
"And his room?—"
"Was the next to yours."
"Hum! indeed; and this Sir John extends his patronage to you, gudeman—eh?"
"He pays like a prince, to be sure; for he had a fancy for my gudewife in her young days."