'I canna tell what it is aboot the sun 'at maks a dog o' me!' he said.
'He's hard-like, and hauds me oot, and gars me hing my heid, and feel
as gien I wur a kin' o' ashamed, though I ken o' naething. But the
bonny nicht comes straucht up to me, and into me, and gangs a' throuw
me, and bides i' me; and syne I luik for the bonny man!'

'I wuss ye wud lat me bide oot the nicht wi' ye, Steenie!'

'What for that, Kirsty? Ye maun sleep, and I'm better my lane.'

'That's jist hit!' returned Kirsty, with a deep-drawn sigh. 'I canna
bide yer bein yer lane, and yet, do what I like, I canna, whiles, even
i' the daytime, win a bit nearer til ye! Gien only ye was as little as
ye used to be, whan I cud carry ye aboot a' day, and tak ye intil my
ain bed a' nicht! But noo we're jist like the sun and the mune!-whan
ye're oot' I'm in; and whan ye're in--well I'm no oot' but my sowl's
jist as blear-faced as the mune i' the daylicht to think ye'll be awa
again sae sune!--But it _canna_ gang on like this to a' eternity, and
that's a comfort!'

'I ken naething aboot eternity. I'm thinkin it'll a' turn intil a lown
starry nicht, wi' the bonny man intil't. I'm sure o' ae thing, and that
only--'at something 'ill be putten richt 'at's far frae richt the noo;
and syne, Kirsty, ye'll hae yer ain gait wi' me, and I'll be sae far
like ither fowk: idiot 'at I am, I wud be sorry to be turnt a'thegither
the same as some! Ye see I ken sae muckle they ken naething aboot, or
they wudna be as they are! It maybe disna become _me_ to say't, ony
mair nor Gowk Murnock 'at sits o' the pu'pit stair,--but eh the styte
(_nonsense_) oor minister dings oot o' his ain heid, as gien it war the
stoor oot o' the bible-cushion! It's no possible he's ever seen the