'What ken ye aboot my age? There's never a man-body i' the toon
kens aught aboot my age.'

'It's ower muckle for onybody to min' upo' (remember), is 't,
Betty?'

'Dinna be ill-tongued, Robert, or I'll jist gang benn the hoose to
the mistress.'

'Betty, wha began wi' bein' ill-tongued? Gin ye tell my grandmither
that I gaed oot the nicht, I'll gang to the schuilmaister o'
Muckledrum, and get a sicht o' the kirstenin' buik; an' gin yer name
binna there, I'll tell ilkabody I meet 'at oor Betty was never
kirstened; and that'll be a sair affront, Betty.'

'Hoot! was there ever sic a laddie!' said Betty, attempting to laugh
it off. 'Be sure ye be back afore tay-time, 'cause yer grannie 'ill
be speirin' efter ye, and ye wadna hae me lee aboot ye?'

'I wad hae naebody lee about me. Ye jist needna lat on 'at ye hear
her. Ye can be deif eneuch when ye like, Betty. But I s' be back
afore tay-time, or come on the waur.'

Betty, who was in far greater fear of her age being discovered than
of being unchristianized in the search, though the fact was that she
knew nothing certain about the matter, and had no desire to be
enlightened, feeling as if she was thus left at liberty to hint what
she pleased,--Betty, I say, never had any intention of going 'benn
the hoose to the mistress.' For the threat was merely the rod of
terror which she thought it convenient to hold over the back of the