Being anxious to entertain well and highly the
man to whom I had been so much indebted, and knowing that,
with all his integrity and righteousness, he disdained not the good
things of this life, I brought from the late laird's well-stored
cellars various fragrant and salubrious wines, and we drank, and
became merry, and I found that my miseries and overpowering
calamities passed away over my head like a shower that is driven
by the wind. I became elevated and happy, and welcomed my
guests an hundred times; and then I joined them in religious
conversation, with a zeal and enthusiasm which I had not often
experienced, and which made all their hearts rejoice, so that I said
to myself. "Surely every gift of God is a blessing, and ought to be
used with liberality and thankfulness."
The next day I waked from a profound and feverish sleep, and
called for something to drink. There was a servant answered
whom I had never seen before, and he was clad in my servant's
clothes and livery. I asked for Andrew Handyside, the servant
who had waited at table the night before; but the man answered
with a stare and a smile:
"What do you mean, sirrah," said I.
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