bonny man as I hae seen him!'

'We'll a' hae to come ower to you, Steenie, and learn frae ye what ye
ken. We'll hae to mak _you_ the minister, Steenie!'

'Na, na; I ken naething for ither fowk--only for mysel; and that's
whiles mair nor I can win roun', no to say gie again!' 'Some nicht
ye'll lat me bide oot wi' ye a' nicht? I wud sair like it, Steenie!'

'Ye sail, Kirsty; but it maun be some nicht ye hae sleepit a' day.'

'Eh, but I cudna do that, tried I ever sae hard!'

'Ye cud lie i' yer bed ony gait, and mak the best o' 't! _Ye_ hae
naebody, I ken, to _gar_ you sleep!'

They went all the rest of the way talking thus, and Kirsty's heart grew
lighter, for she seemed to get a little nearer to her brother. He had
been her live doll and idol ever since his mother laid him in her arms
when she was little more than three years old. For though Steenie was
nearly a year older than Kirsty, she was at that time so much bigger
that she was able, not indeed to carry him, but to nurse him on her
knees. She thought herself the elder of the two until she was about
ten, by which time she could not remember any beginning to her carrying
of him. About the same time, however, he began to grow much faster, and
she found before long that only upon her back could she carry him any
distance.

The discovery that he was the elder somehow gave a fresh impulse to her
love and devotion, and intensified her pitiful tenderness. Kirsty's was