"It may weel be richt an' you no see 't!"

"Ay' weel that! But what for sud I no say I dinna see 't? Isna the
blin' man to say he's blin'?"

This was unanswerable, and Donal again spoke.

"It seems to me," he said, "we need first to un'erstan' what's
conteened i' the veesitin' o' the sins o' the fathers upo' the
children, afore we daur ony jeedgment concernin' 't."

"Ay, that 's sense eneuch!" confessed a responsive murmur.

"I haena seen muckle o' this warl' yet, compared wi' you, sirs,"
Donal went on, "but I hae been a heap my lane wi' nowt an' sheep,
whan a heap o' things gaed throuw my heid; an' I hae seen something
as weel, though no that muckle. I hae seen a man, a' his life
'afore a douce honest man, come til a heap o' siller, an' gang to
the dogs!"

A second murmur seemed to indicate corroboration.

"He gaed a' to the dogs, as I say," continued Donal; "an' the bairns
he left 'ahint him whan he dee'd o' drink, cam upo' the perris, or
wad hae hungert but for some 'at kenned him whan he was yet in
honour an' poverty. Noo, wad ye no say this was a veesitin' o' the
sins o' the father upo' the children?"

"Ay, doobtless!"