‘I’ll bide in, gien that be yer wull,’ replied Steenie; ‘but eh, gien ye kent the differ to me, ye wudna wuss ’t. I seldom sleep at nicht as ye ken, and i’ the hoose it’s jist as gien the darkness wan inside o’ me and was chokin me.’ ‘But it’s as dark theroot as i’ the hoose--whiles, onygait!’ ‘Na, mother; it’s never sae dark theroot but there’s licht eneuch to ken _I’m_ theroot and no i’ the hoose. I can aye draw a guid full breath oot i’ the open.’ ‘Lat the laddie gang his ain gait, ’uman,’ interposed David. ‘The thing born in ’im ’s better for him nor the thing born in anither. A man maun gang as God made him.’ ‘Ay, whether he be man or dog!’ assented Steenie solemnly. He drew his stool close to his father where he sat at the table, and again laid his head on his knee. The mother sighed but said nothing. She looked nowise hurt, only very sad. In a minute, Steenie spoke again: ‘I’m thinkin nane o’ ye kens,’ he said, ‘what it’s like whan a’ the hill-side’s gien up to the ither anes!’ ‘What ither anes?’ asked his mother. ‘There can be nane there but yer ain lane sel!’ ‘Ay, there’s a’ the lave o’ ’s,’ he rejoined, with a wan smile. The mother looked at him with something almost of fear in her eyes of love. ‘Steenie has company we ken little aboot,’ said Kirsty. ‘I whiles think I wud gie him my wits for his company.’ ‘Ay, the bonny man!’ murmured Steenie. ‘--I maun be gauin!’ But he did not rise, did not even lift his head from his father’s knee: it would be rude to go before the supper was over--the ruder that he was not partaking of it! David had eaten his porridge, and now came the almost nightly difference about the eggs. Marion had been ‘the perfect spy o’ the time’ in taking them from the pot; but when she would as usual have her husband eat them, he as usual declared he neither needed nor wanted them. This night, however, he did not insist, but at once proceeded to prepare one, with which, as soon as it was nicely mixed with salt, he began to feed Steenie. The boy had been longer used to being thus fed than most children, and having taken the first mouthful instinctively, now moved his head, but without raising it from his knee, so that his father might feed him more comfortably. In this position he took every spoonful given him, and so ate both the eggs, greatly to the delight of the rest of the company. A moment more and Steenie got up. His father rose also. ‘I’ll convoy ye a bit, my man,’ he said. ‘Eh, na! ye needna that, father! It’s nearhan’ yer bedtime! I hae naegait to be convoyt. I’ll jist be aboot i’ the nicht--maybe a stane’s-cast frae the door, maybe the tither side o’ the Horn. Here or there I’m never frae ye. I think whiles I’m jist like ane o’ them ’at ye ca’ deid: I’m no awa; I’m only deid! I’m aboot somegait!’ So saying, he went. He never on any occasion wished them good-night: that would be to leave them, and he was not leaving them! he was with them all the time! CHAPTER VIII DAVID AND HIS DAUGHTER