On the morning of the funeral tables were spread with a white cloth outside the house, and food and drink were placed upon them.

No neighbour could pass the tables without paying his respects to the dead; and even when the house was in a busy, narrow thoroughfare, this part of the ceremony was never omitted.

Tammas did not give Chirsty a wake inside the house; but one Friday morning--it was market-day, and the square was consequently full--it went through the town that the tables were spread before his door.

Young and old collected, wandering round the house, and Tammas stood at the tables in his blacks inviting every one to eat and drink.

He was pressed to tell what it meant; but nothing could be got from him except that his wife was dead.