"Smellie telt me! but mind ye, he said I was to keep it quait till he gied me the wink, ye ken;" and Mrs. Craigie gave a knowing wink. She did not know that Smellie had already _peached_. "For hoo Smellie kent was this, that he had some sort o’ business in the place whaur Mercer leeved--that’s north in Bennock parish, afore he was a sodger; and Smellie picked up a’ the story o’ his poachin’, for Smellie is awfu’ shairp; but he wad never tell’t till he could pit it like a gag into the prood mouth o’ Adam; and Smellie says he’ll pit it in noo, and let Adam crunch his teeth on’t," said Mrs. Craigie, gnashing the few she had herself. Hall manifested a singular inquisitiveness to know as much as possible about those poaching days, and their locality, until at last being satisfied, and having learned that the old keeper of Lord Bennock was still alive, though, as Mrs. Craigie said, "clean superannuat", and that he was, moreover, Adam’s cousin, Jock said, "What an awfu’ blackguard Adam maun be! If I had kent what I ken noo, I never wad hae gi’en him my boots to men’." "Yer boots to men’!" exclaimed Mrs. Craigie, with astonishment; "what for did ye do that?" "He had nae wark." "Ser’ him richt!" said Mrs. Craigie. "And I patroneesed him," continued Jock. "Ha! ha! It was far ower guid o’ ye, Jock, tae patroneese him," said Mrs. Craigie. "Ye’ll no pay him, I houp? But he’s sic a greedy fallow, that he micht expec’ even a puir sowl like you tae pay." "Me pay him!" said Jock, with a laugh, "maybe--when I hae paid the debt o’ natur’; no till then." "But, Jock," asked Mrs. Craigie, almost in a whisper, "did _ye_ see Mary, the wee slut?" "I did that," replied Jock, "an’ it wad hae broken yer feelin’ heart, Luckie, had _ye_ seen her!--no lying as a puir orphan paid for by the Session ocht to lie, on a shake-doon, wi’ a blanket ower her,--my certes, guid eneuch for the like o’ her, and for the bawbees paid for her----" "Guid?--ower guid!" interpolated Mrs. Craigie. "But," continued Hall, with a leer, "she was mair like a leddy, wi’ a bed till hersel’, an’ curtains on’t; and sitting in a chair, wi’ stockin’s and shoon, afore the fire--learning her lesson, too, and coddled and coddled by Adam and his wife. What say ye to that, Luckie? what say ye to that?" "Dinna mak’ me daft!" exclaimed Mrs. Craigie; "it’s eneuch to mak’ a bodie swear e’en on the Sabbath day!" "Swear awa’!" said Hall; "the day maks nae difference to _me_. Sae ca’ awa’, woman, if it wull dae ye ony guid, or gie ye ony comfort."