A crowd of admirers stood round. Scotty came lurching up, having evidently held a preliminary carouse in certain expectation of the championship, and, with a careless glance at his exhibits and the red card attached, cried triumphantly: 'Ay! an' whaur's that Geordie body noo, wi' his brags an' a'? Wey, I'm tauld he daurna even exhibit his ain puir specimens by the side o' mine! Look at thae pansies, an' think o' him wi' his yaller sheep's tormuts tryin' to vie wi' me that's the auld established pansy champion! Ay, I'm that ower an' ower again; an' what's mair, I've win his gun. Wey, I'll gang an' fetch her awa at aince!' So boasting, the proud champion reeled off in triumph, inadvertently knocking up against a silent looker-on, who was standing in melancholy guise against a tent-pole some little distance away. One morning, a day or so after the flower-show, it chanced that Tommy was late for school, and, rounding a corner hurriedly, ran up against a big boy, who was sporting a pansy in his buttonhole. The big boy, who was Scotty's son, immediately proceeded to cuff him for his carelessness, and Tommy retorted by "calling"[18] his opponent and his family connections with a ready profuseness. 'Wey, even that pansy thoo's sportin' divvn't belong thoo, nor thy feythor nowther, it's my dad's growin'; he showed his ain pansies as Scotty's, 'cos Scotty's happened an accident i' the cart. Feythor took them up for yor mither, 'cos thoo had forgottened them, an' to save thoo a strappin'; an' feythor's pansy champion, and Scotty's nowt but a beer-barril!' 'Liar!' responded the other boy, with a punch of his fist. 'Ax yor mither, then,' shouted Tommy, as he ducked and broke away from his captor's clutch. A night or two after this encounter Geordie was surprised by a visit from Scotty. 'Whatten a tale's this ye're spreadin' aboot o' yor showin' yoor pansies as mine, I'd like to ken?' demanded the intruder wrathfully. Geordie looked up quietly from his book, and: 'I've spread no tales aboot thoo or thy pansies,' he replied. 'Weel, it's either thoo or that wee, impittent son o' yoors, Tommy. Noo, I've been axin' my missus aboot it, an' she says she did gie ye my pansies to tak' up to the show wi' yoors; an' what I want to be at is what i' the deil's name ye did to them.' Geordie, in reply, exactly related what had occurred. 'Then, wey didn't ye tell us aboot it?' demanded Scotty, still dissatisfied. 'Because thoo has a tarr'ble sharp tongue i' thy mouth, an' I divvn't want to be scandalized aboot the village as one who would sharp another for the sake o' winnin' a floo'er prize.' 'Hum!' ejaculated Scotty, 'it's an extraordinar' thing this! But hoo can ye explain aboot the pansies, then? I'm pansy champion, an' therefore thae pansies that win the prize mun ha' been mine, yet here ye are sayin' that they were yoors.'