“Were you long acquainted with the late Laird of Wineholm, James?”
“Yes, ever since I left my apprenticeship; for, I suppose, about nineteen years.”
“Was he very much given to drinking of late?”
“I could not say; he took his glass geyan heartily.”
“Did you ever drink with him.”
“O yes, mony a time.”
“You must have seen him very drunk, then? Did you ever see him so drunk, for instance, that he could not rise?”
“Never; for long afore that, I could not have kenned whether he was sitting or standing.”
“Were you present at the corpse-chesting?”
“Yes, I was.”