He had sat up to listen to the noise of their ascending footsteps, and fear had so overmastered him, that he either could not, or forgot that he could lie down and cover his head with some of the many garments scattered around him.
'I didna say whusky, did I ?' he kept repeating to himself, in utter imbecility of fear.
'The Lord preserve 's!' exclaimed Betty, the moment she could speak; for during the first few seconds, having caught the infection of Shargar's expression, she stood equally paralysed.

'The Lord preserve 's!' she repeated.
'Ance is eneuch,' said Mrs.Falconer, sharply, turning round to see what the cause of Betty's ejaculation might be.
I have said that she was dim-sighted.

The candle they had was little better than a penny dip.

The bed was darker than the rest of the room.
Shargar's face had none of the more distinctive characteristics of manhood upon it.
'Gude preserve 's!' exclaimed Mrs.Falconer in her turn: 'it's a wumman.' Poor deluded Shargar, thinking himself safer under any form than that which he actually bore, attempted no protest against the mistake.

But, indeed, he was incapable of speech.