However, one day, he summoned up all his courage, and, as they sat in solemn silence, said suddenly:
"Janet, we've been acquainted noo six years an' mair, and I've ne'er gotten a kiss yet. D' ye think I might take one, my bonnie lass?"
"What, noo, at once?" cried Janet rather taken by surprise.
"Yes, noo."
"Just as you like, John; only be becoming and proper wi' it."
"Surely, Janet, and we'll ask a blessing first," said the young doctor.
The blessing was asked, the kiss was taken, and the worthy divine, perfectly overcome with the blissful sensation, rapturously exclaimed:
"Eh, lass, but it is guid. We'll return thanks."
This they did, and the biographer adds that, six months later, this pious couple were made one flesh and lived a long life of happy usefulness.
The following little scene, of which a friend was witness in Scotland, will show that if Scotch people in general can see through a joke, there are also a few who belong to the type described by Sydney Smith, and for whom the surgical operation is a sad necessity.