‘That’s jist hit!’ returned Kirsty, with a deep-drawn sigh. ‘I canna bide yer bein yer lane, and yet, do what I like, I canna, whiles, even i’ the daytime, win a bit nearer til ye! Gien only ye was as little as ye used to be, whan I cud carry ye aboot a’ day, and tak ye intil my ain bed a’ nicht! But noo we’re jist like the sun and the mune!--whan ye’re oot, I’m in; and whan ye’re in--well I’m no oot, but my sowl’s jist as blear-faced as the mune i’ the daylicht to think ye’ll be awa again sae sune!--But it _canna_ gang on like this to a’ eternity, and that’s a comfort!’ ‘I ken naething aboot eternity. I’m thinkin it’ll a’ turn intil a lown starry nicht, wi’ the bonny man intil’t. I’m sure o’ ae thing, and that only--’at something ’ill be putten richt ’at’s far frae richt the noo; and syne, Kirsty, ye’ll hae yer ain gait wi’ me, and I’ll be sae far like ither fowk: idiot ’at I am, I wud be sorry to be turnt a’thegither the same as some! Ye see I ken sae muckle they ken naething aboot, or they wudna be as they are! It maybe disna become _me_ to say’t, ony mair nor Gowk Murnock ’at sits o’ the pu’pit stair,--but eh the styte (_nonsense_) oor minister dings oot o’ his ain heid, as gien it war the stoor oot o’ the bible-cushion! It’s no possible he’s ever seen the bonny man as I hae seen him!’ ‘We’ll a’ hae to come ower to you, Steenie, and learn frae ye what ye ken. We’ll hae to mak _you_ the minister, Steenie!’ ‘Na, na; I ken naething for ither fowk--only for mysel; and that’s whiles mair nor I can win roun’, no to say gie again!’ ‘Some nicht ye’ll lat me bide oot wi’ ye a’ nicht? I wud sair like it, Steenie!’ ‘Ye sall, Kirsty; but it maun be some nicht ye hae sleepit a’ day.’ ‘Eh, but I cudna do that, tried I ever sae hard!’ ‘Ye cud lie i’ yer bed ony gait, and mak the best o’ ’t! _Ye_ hae naebody, I ken, to gar _you_ sleep!’ They went all the rest of the way talking thus, and Kirsty’s heart grew lighter, for she seemed to get a little nearer to her brother. He had been her live doll and idol ever since his mother laid him in her arms when she was little more than three years old. For though Steenie was nearly a year older than Kirsty, she was at that time so much bigger that she was able, not indeed to carry him, but to nurse him on her knees. She thought herself the elder of the two until she was about ten, by which time she could not remember any beginning to her carrying of him. About the same time, however, he began to grow much faster, and she found before long that only upon her back could she carry him any distance. The discovery that he was the elder somehow gave a fresh impulse to her love and devotion, and intensified her pitiful tenderness. Kirsty’s was indeed a heart in which the whole unhappy world might have sought and found shelter. She had the notion, notwithstanding, that she was harder-hearted than most, and therefore better able to do things that were right but not pleasant. CHAPTER VII CORBYKNOWE