Annie,
however, did not suspect anything, till, one day, she overheard the
elder say to the younger,
"Ye dinna push, man. Gang benn to the chop and get a cnottie o' reid
candy-sugar, and gie her that the neist time ye see her her lane. The
likes o' her kens what that means. And gin she tak's 't frae ye, ye may
hae the run o' the drawer. It's worth while, ye ken. Them 'at winna saw
winna reap."
From that moment she was on her guard. Nor did she give the youth a
chance of putting his father's advice into operation.
Meantime Alec got better and better, went out with Mr Cupples in the
gig, ate like an ogre, drank like a hippopotamus, and was rapidly
recovering his former strength. As he grew better, his former grief did
draw nearer, but such was the freshness of his new life, that he seemed
to have died and risen again like Lazarus, leaving his sorrow behind
him in the grave, to be communed with only in those dim seasons when
ghosts walk.
One evening over their supper, he was opposing Mr Cupples's departure
for the twentieth time. At length the latter said:
"Alec, I'll bide wi' ye till the neist session upon ae condition."
"What is that, Mr Cupples?" said Mrs Forbes.
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