"Two half-crowns! Why, man, for one half-crown...."
"Then be eating the sins o' your father yourself, Andrew Blair! It is going I am."
"Stop, man! Stop, Macallum. See here—I will be giving you what you ask."
"So be it. Is the.... Are you ready?"
"Ay, come this way."
With that the two men turned and moved slowly towards the bier.
In the doorway of the house stood a man and two women; farther in, a woman; and at the window to the left, the serving-wench, Jessie McFall, and two men of the farm. Of those in the doorway, the man was Peter, the half-witted youngest brother of Andrew Blair; the taller and older woman was Catreen, the widow of Adam, the second brother; and the thin, slight woman, with staring eyes and drooping mouth, was Muireall, the wife of Andrew. The old woman behind these was Maisie Macdonald.
Andrew Blair stooped and took a saucer out of the claar. This he put upon the covered breast of the corpse. He stooped again, and brought forth a thick square piece of new-made bread. That also he placed upon the breast of the corpse. Then he stooped again, and with that he emptied a spoonful of salt alongside the bread.
"I must see the corpse," said Neil Ross simply.
"It is not needful, Macallum."