Burns (handing punch): They are my wages, sir. I am grateful for them.
Fenton: Mr. Hamilton tells me of your appointment to the excise at Dumfries. My congratulations.
[They drink.]
Burns: Yes. Seventy pounds a year.
[The Girl returns, and lights a lamp. She draws the curtain, and joins Willie Campbell at the window.]
M’Pherson: If you gentlemen in London think so highly of Mr. Burns, couldn’t you do something better for him than that?
Fenton: Indeed, from Mr. Burns’s reputation, I could not have supposed such expedients necessary.
Willie: Reputation makes no bannocks in these parts, sir.
Burns: Gentlemen, my apologies. These affairs can be no concern of yours. What news have you in London, sir, from France?
Fenton: The excesses of the revolution increase, I fear.