'It's awfu' fu' o'
dist and stoor. It'll smore ye to open the twa brods o' 't. Yer rosy
goon'll be clean blaudit wi' the stew (dust) o' 't.'
"She startit and luikit roon some frichtit like, and I rase an' gaed
across the flure till her. And her face grew bonnier as I cam nearer
till her. Her nose an' her twa eebrees jist min'd ye upo' the picturs
o' the Holy Ghost comin' doon like a doo; and oot aneath ilka wing
there luikit a hert o' licht--that was her twa een, that gaed throu and
throu me as gin I had been a warp and they twa shuttles; and faith!
they made o' my life and o' me what it is and I am. They wove the wab
o' me.
"Ay. They gaed oot and in, and throu and throu, and back and fore, and
roon and aboot, till there wasna a nerve or a fibre o' my bein', but
they had twisted it up jist as a spither does a flee afore he sooks the
life oot o' 't. But that's a prolepsis."
"'Are you the librarian?' said she, saft and sma', like hersel'.
"'That I am, mem,' said I. 'My name's Cupples--at your service, mem.'
"'I was looking, Mr Cupples,' said she, 'for some book to help me to
learn Gaelic. I want very much to read Gaelic.'
"'Weel, mem,' said I, 'gin it had been ony o' the Romance languages, or
ony ane o' the Teutonic breed, I micht hae gien ye a lift.
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