So it went on, for the years, till, in the end, we gied him twenty pounds more we'd put awa' for a rainy day that he micht tak' himself' off oot o' our sicht and leave us be in peace.

He was aff tae Liverpool at once, and we've never clapped een upon him syne then.
"Puir Lizzie! She loves him still, for all he's done to her and to us.

She says he'll come back yet, rich and well, and tak' her out o' service, and bring up the bairns like the sons and dochters of gentlefolk.

And we--weel, we say nowt to shake her.

She maybe happier thinking so, and it's a sair hard time she's had, puir lass.