“‘I’ll tell ye whit I’ll dae wi’ ye,’ said he. ‘I’ll no’ mind aboot Jeckson at a’, but I’ll hing aboot your hoose for a week or a fortnight, and they’ll never ken at the office. I canna think to gang into Jeckson’s hoose if he’s a teetotaler. Teetotalers is aye that--that--that teetotal. I wad never get sittin’ doon in Jeckson’s to a jovial gless like this.’ “‘Ye’re far ower jovial for me,’ says I. ‘See’s that decanter,’ and I took it frae him. ‘I’m awfu’ prood to see ye, but ye better be slidin’ afore her ladyship the wife comes in, or she’ll put the hems on ye. She canna stand ghosts.’ “‘Michty!’ said he, ‘have ye a wife?’ “‘The nicest wee wife in Gleska,’ said I. ‘And I wish to goodness she was hame, for I’m awfu’ tired.’ “‘Then I’m no’ playin’,’ said the ghost. ‘I’ll awa’ roon’ and gie Jeckson a cry afore he gangs to his bed.’ “He grabbed the decanter and emptied it into the tumbler, gied ae gulp, and anither gnash to his teeth, and went awa’ withoot sae much as ‘thenk ye.’ “Jinnet’s step was on the stair. Fine I kent it! Man, that’s the smertest wee wumman! “‘There’s nae livin’ in this hoose wi’ ghosts,’ says I to her when she cam’ in, and she had some grapes for me. “‘Is there no’, Erchie?’ she said, lookin’ at me, ‘my ain puir auld man!’ “‘Look at that decanter,’ says I; ‘the rascal emptied it.’ “‘Hoots! the decanter’s a’ richt,’ says she, takin’t frae the press; and as shair’s onything, there wasna a drap’ oot o’t! “And she put me to my bed there and then.” XXVII JINNET’S CHRISTMAS SHOPPING |Jinnet had money in the Savings Bank. Erchie used to chuckle when some neighbour had gone out to whom she had casually mentioned the fact and say, “That’s it, Jinnet, you be bragging o’ your deposits like that, and they’ll be thinking I mairried ye for your fortune.” But the truth was that when their savings at first were lodged in Erchie’s name, they had an unfortunate way of disappearing without Jinnet’s knowledge, and it was to protect himself from himself that the husband finally opened the account in the name of his wife. The first day she went to the bank with money it was with no little trepidation. “Maybe they’ll no’ tak’ sae much as twenty-wan pounds,” she suggested; “it’s a guid pickle money to hae the responsibility o’.” “Ay, and gled to get it!” he replied. “That’s whit they’re there for. If it was twice twenty-wan they wad mak’ room for’t, even if they had to shift forrit the coonter. Ye hae nae idea o’ the dacency o’ thae banks!” “But whit if the bank was to burst?” said Jinnet. “Lots o’ folk losses their money wi’ banks burstin’, and hae to go on the Board a’ the rest o’ their days.” “Burst!” laughed Erchie. “Man! ye wad think it was a kitchen biler ye were talkin’ aboot. It’ll no’ burst wi’ a’ we’ll put into’t, I’ll warrant ye.” “Will ye hae to pay them much for takin’ care o’t?” she asked, still dubious of these immense financial operations.