Ye a' ken me by the sicht o' the een. I'm a graduate o' this
university, and at present your humble servant the librarian. I intrude
for the sake o' justice, and I cast mysel' upo' your clemency for a
fair hearin'."
This being accorded by general acclamation,
"Gentlemen," he resumed, "I stan' afore ye wi' a sair hert. I hae
occupied the position o' tutor to Mr Forbes; for, as Sir Pheelip Sidney
says in a letter to his brither Rob, wha was efterwards Yerl o'
Leicester upo' the demise o' Robert Dudley, 'Ye may get wiser men nor
yersel' to converse wi' ye and instruck ye, in ane o' twa ways--by
muckle ootlay or muckle humility.' Noo, that laddie was ane o' the
finest naturs I ever cam' across, and his humility jist made it a
pleesur to tak' chairge o' 'm baith mentally and morally. That I had a
sair doon come whan he took to the drink, I am forced to confess. But I
aye thocht he was strauchtforet, notwithstandin' the whusky. I wasna
prepared for sic a doonfa' as this.--I maun jist confess, Mr Cheerman,
that I heard him throu' the crack o' the door-cheek. And he broucht sic
deevilich accusations--"
"Mr Cupples!" cried Alec.
"Haud yer tongue, Alec Forbes, and lat this company hear me.
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