LAWSON. Ay ... weel ... be't sae! Let the brandy bide, man, let the brandy bide! But for you and the trust-money ... damned! It's felony. _Tutor in rem suam_, ye ken, _tutor in rem suam_. But O man, Deacon, whaur is the siller? BRODIE. It's gone--O how the devil should I know? But it'll never come back. LAWSON. Dear, dear! A' gone to the winds o' heaven! Sae ye're an extravagant dog, too. _Prodigus et furiosus!_ And that puir lass--eh, Deacon, man, that puir lass! I mind her such a bonnie bairn. BRODIE (_stopping his ears_). Brandy, brandy, brandy, brandy, brandy! LAWSON. William Brodie, mony's the long day that I've believed in you; prood, prood was I to be the Deacon's uncle; and a sore hearing have I had of it the day. That's past; that's past like Flodden Field; it's an auld sang noo, and I'm an aulder man than when I crossed your door. But mark ye this--mark ye this, William Brodie, I may be no' sae guid's I should be; but there's no' a saul between the east sea and the wast can lift his een to God that made him, and say I wranged him as ye wrang that lassie. I bless God, William Brodie--ay, though he was like my brother--I bless God that he that got ye has the hand of death upon his hearing, and can win into his grave a happier man than me. And ye speak to me, sir? Think shame--think shame upon your heart! BRODIE. Rogues all! LAWSON. You're the son of my sister, William Brodie. Mair than that I stop not to inquire. If the siller is spent, and the honour tint--Lord help us, and the honour tint!--sae be it, I maun bow the head. Ruin shallna come by me. Na, and I'll say mair, William; we have a' our weary sins upon our backs, and maybe I have mair than mony. But, man, if ye could bring _half_ the jointure ... (_potius quam pereas_) ... for your mither's son? Na? You couldna bring the half? Weel, weel, it's a sair heart I have this day, a sair heart and a weary. If I were a better man mysel' ... but there, there, it's a sair heart that I have gotten. And the Lord kens I'll help ye if I can. (_Potius quam pereas._) (_He goes out._) SCENE V