He stood and looked at her, but neither spoke. She cast at length a
glance upward, and said,

'Weel?'

Francis did not open his mouth. He seemed irresolute. Nothing in
Kirsty's look or carriage or in the tone of her one word gave sign of
consciousness that she was treating him, or he her, strangely. With
complete self-possession she left the initiative to the one who had
sought the interview: let him say why he had come!

In his face began to appear indication of growing displeasure. Two or
three times he turned half away with a movement instantly checked which
seemed to say that in a moment more, if there came no change, he would
mount and ride: was this all his welcome?

At last she appeared to think she must take mercy on him: he used to
say thirty words to her one!

'That's a bonny powny ye hae,' she remarked, with a look at the
creature as he fed.

'He's a' that,' he answered dryly.

'Whaur did ye get him?' she asked.

'My mither coft (_bought_) him agen my hame-comin,' he replied.

He prided himself on being able to speak the broadest of the dialect.