"And wha tell't ye sic a lee?"
"He tell't me sae himsel."
"And wha was he?"
"Ned Cummin: he said he saw ye dee."
"Ned Cummin! Why the lassie's head's in a creel. Ned drowned himsel, puir chiel! in Madras Roads; and mony a sair thocht has it gien me that we war unfreends when we parted."
"Weel, Richie, a' I ken is, that it's Gude's truth that Ned Cummin tell't me ye were dead—and I believed him." And the tears gushed from her eyes as she said so. "But come ben the hoose, and see my faither."
Old Grey was at first as much alarmed as his daughter at the apparition, as he thought it, of Richard Goldie; for they both were infected with the superstition of the country, and firmly believed in the doctrine of wraiths, bogles, and other supernatural appearances.
"And, noo," said the old man, "that we ken that ye're yersel, and no yer wraith, sit doun and tell us a' that's happened ye sin ye gaed awa."
"I hae nae time 'enow," said Richard; "I maun awa hame; for I haena seen my ain folk yet—mair's the shame; but I'll come back the morn's morn, and gie ye my cracks."
"But Richie, my man, hae ye no heard—d'ye no ken?" said the old man, hesitatingly.