"Lassie! lassie!" cried Mirren Douglas, "what is this ye are tellin' me?"
"The truth," said Vara Kavannah, quietly; "Gavin and Boy Hugh and me hae walked a' the road frae Edinburgh. We hae sleepit in the hills, and——"
"But how cam' the bairn here?" asked Muckle Alick's fiercely tender little wife; "tell me quick!"
"I hae carried Gavin a' the road!" said Vara, simply.
"You, lassie!" cried Mirren, looking at the slip of pale girlhood before her, "it's juist fair unpossible!"
"But I did carry him. He's no that heavy when ye get the shawl weel set."
"O lassie, lassie, ye juist mak' me fair shamed," cried Mistress Douglas. "Alick, ye muckle bullock; what for are ye standin' there like a cuif? Gang ower to Mistress Fraser's and ask the lend o' her cradle. Thae bairns are gaun to bide——"
"But, wife, hae ye considered?" Alick began.
"Considered, my fit, did ye no hear me? Dinna stand hingin' there, balancin' on your soles like a show elephant lookin' aboot for cookies—gang, will ye!"
The little wife stamped her foot and made a threatening demonstration. Whereupon Muckle Alick betook himself over the way to Mistress Fraser's, and he never smiled till he got past the gate of the front garden, in which Mirren kept her old-fashioned flowers.