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"I didna say the like o' that, Neil I am an auld man, and Van Vorst is

an aulder one We'd be a bonnie picture wi' draords in oor shaking

hands; though, for mysel', I may say that there wasna a better fencer in

Ayrshire, and that the houses o' Lockerby and Lanark hae reason to

remember And I wouldna hae the honour o' the Seht

myself first But I'm in a sair strait, Neil; and oh, my dear lad, what

will I say, when it's the Word o' the Lord on one hand, and the scaith

and scorn of a' men on the other? But I'll trust to your prudence, Neil,

and no begin to feel the weight o' a , when evils hae threatened ht God's help;

and He has either averted theood consolation, father"

"It is that; and I ken nae better plan for life than, when I rise up, to

gie mysel' to His direction, and, when I lay ie

mysel' to His care"

"In such coht I

have business early in the , and may not wait for your coht, Neil The dawn has gold in its hand I used to be

an early worker es Good-night, Neil, and a good- to follow it"

Neil then lit his candle; and, not forgetting that courteous salute

which the young then always rendered to honourable age, he went slowly

upstairs, feeling suddenly a great weariness and despair If Katherine

had only been true to hiht