Geordie looked at him seriously from under his bushy eyebrows as he replied, 'I's gannin' to show--an' I's gannin' to win--_wi' pansies, not vi'lets_.' 'Will ye back yorsel', then?' retorted his opponent sneeringly. 'Well, ye knaa,' replied the other slowly, with evident embarrassment, 'I's not a bettin' man, but if thoo thinks I's not in earnest, I's willin' to gie a proof that I is. What d'ye say to yor takin'--if ye beat us, that is--anythin' oot o' my hoos thoo has a fancy for; an'--an'--if I beat thoo, wey, aal I axes is that thoo should come to chapel--noo an' again, ye knaa--ov an evenin',' he hastily added, as his companion's face assumed a look of infinite scorn. 'Ha' ye got that auld double-barrelled shot-gun yet?' queried Scotty, after a pause in which he had arrived at the conclusion that the odds were 'aboot a thoosand to one' in his favour. 'Yes,' replied Geordie. 'I still have her; she's there hangin' up above the mantelshelf.' 'Well, I'll tak' up wi' yor proposal,' was Scotty's reply. 'Shake hands on't, then,' said Geordie slowly, unsuccessfully endeavouring to instil an apprehensive tremor into his voice. His companion shook hands carelessly, and swung away whistling barefacedly, 'And it's up wi' the bonnets o' Bonnie Dundee.' Geordie, on his part, walked away swiftly homewards, fearing lest his exultation might betray itself too openly. 'Wow!' he thought to himself, 'but I's fair a-feard o' mysel'. I's growin' intiv a proper Jesu-yte!' The morning of the show-day came, and Geordie, having finished packing his exhibits with extraordinary care, had just returned with the small cart the grocer had lent him to convey his treasures to the show-field, about a mile and a half distant, when up came Maggie, Scotty's wife, who, notwithstanding the little difference between their respective men, had always kept up her friendship with Geordie's wife. Her arms bore a large green case, tied round with a many-knotted cord. This she hastily set down beside the cart, then turned breathlessly to Geordie, who, with his son, was just about to drive off. 'Eh noo, canny man,' she cried, as she wiped her hot face with the tail of her gown, 'do us a favour. Will thoo carry my man's pansy-case up to the show wi' yors? Wor Jimmy was to have taken it up first thing this mornin', but he went aff for his school treat an' left it--an' my man's awa playin' hissel' at quoits--an' he'll aboot kill Jimmy when he gans up to the show an' finds his pansies isn't there.' Geordie willingly acceded, and the green case was carefully deposited alongside of his own at the bottom of the cart.