第8章 I MAKE ACQUAINTANCE OF MY UNCLE(2)

"Hoot-toot,hoot-toot!"said he."Lights in a house is a thing Idinnae agree with.I'm unco feared of fires.Good-night to ye,Davie,my man."And before I had time to add a further protest,he pulled the door to,and I heard him lock me in from the outside.

I did not know whether to laugh or cry.The room was as cold as a well,and the bed,when I had found my way to it,as damp as a peat-hag;but by good fortune I had caught up my bundle and my plaid,and rolling myself in the latter,I lay down upon the floor under lee of the big bedstead,and fell speedily asleep.

With the first peep of day I opened my eyes,to find myself in a great chamber,hung with stamped leather,furnished with fine embroidered furniture,and lit by three fair windows.Ten years ago,or perhaps twenty,it must have been as pleasant a room to lie down or to awake in as a man could wish;but damp,dirt,disuse,and the mice and spiders had done their worst since then.

Many of the window-panes,besides,were broken;and indeed this was so common a feature in that house,that I believe my uncle must at some time have stood a siege from his indignant neighbours --perhaps with Jennet Clouston at their head.

Meanwhile the sun was shining outside;and being very cold in that miserable room,I knocked and shouted till my gaoler came and let me out.He carried me to the back of the house,where was a draw-well,and told me to "wash my face there,if Iwanted;"and when that was done,I made the best of my own way back to the kitchen,where he had lit the fire and was making the porridge.The table was laid with two bowls and two horn spoons,but the same single measure of small beer.Perhaps my eye rested on this particular with some surprise,and perhaps my uncle observed it;for he spoke up as if in answer to my thought,asking me if I would like to drink ale --for so he called it.

I told him such was my habit,but not to put himself about.

"Na,na,"said he;"I'll deny you nothing in reason."He fetched another cup from the shelf;and then,to my great surprise,instead of drawing more beer,he poured an accurate half from one cup to the other.There was a kind of nobleness in this that took my breath away;if my uncle was certainly a miser,he was one of that thorough breed that goes near to make the vice respectable.

When we had made an end of our meal,my uncle Ebenezer unlocked a drawer,and drew out of it a clay pipe and a lump of tobacco,from which he cut one fill before he locked it up again.Then he sat down in the sun at one of the windows and silently smoked.

From time to time his eyes came coasting round to me,and he shot out one of his questions.Once it was,"And your mother?"and when I had told him that she,too,was dead,"Ay,she was a bonnie lassie!"Then,after another long pause,"Whae were these friends o'yours?"I told him they were different gentlemen of the name of Campbell;though,indeed,there was only one,and that the minister,that had ever taken the least note of me;but I began to think my uncle made too light of my position,and finding myself all alone with him,I did not wish him to suppose me helpless.