"It is Ian Rullock, of Black Hill."
"Sae the baith o' ye are gaeing to Edinburgh? Will ye be friends there?"
"That we will!"
"Hech, sirs!" Mother Binning drew a thread from her distaff. The two were about to travel on when she stopped them again with a gesture. "Dinna mak sic haste! There's time enough behind us, and time enough before us. And it's a strange warld, and a large, and an auld! Sit ye and crack a bit with an auld wife by the road."
But they had dallied at White Farm and in the cave, and Alexander was in haste.
"We cannot stop now, Mother. We're bound for the Kelpie's Pool."
"And why do ye gae there? That's a drear, wanrestfu' place!" said Mother Binning.
"Ian has not seen it yet. I want to show it to him."
Mother Binning turned her distaff slowly. "Eh, then, if ye maun gae, gae!... We're a' ane! There's the kelpie pool for a'."
"We'll stop a bit on the way back," said Alexander. He spoke in a wheedling, kindly voice, for he and Mother Binning were good friends.