wasna mysel'," he said, "till now, but sure as
death my heart was as ta'en up wi' hunting for the right word as if it
had been a game, and that was how the time slipped by so quick. Yet it
was paying work, for the way I did it made Mr. Ogilvy see I should have
got the prize, and a' body kens there's more cleverness in him than in
a cart-load o' ministers."

"But, but there are no more Hugh Blackadders to try for, Tommy?"

"That's nothing, there maun be other work o' the same kind. Elspeth,
cheer up, I tell you, I'll find a wy!"

"But you didna ken yoursel' that you should have got the Hugh
Blackadder?"

He would not let this depress him. "I ken now," he said. Nevertheless,
why he should have got it was a mystery which he longed to fathom. Mr.
Ogilvy had returned to Glenquharity, so that an explanation could not be
drawn from him even if he were willing to supply it, which was
improbable; but Tommy caught Grizel in the Banker's Close and compelled
her to speak.

"I won't tell you a word of what Mr. Ogilvy said," she insisted, in her
obstinate way, and, oh, how she despised Corp for breaking his promise.

"Corp didna ken he telled me," said Tommy, less to clear Corp than to
exalt himself, "I wriggled it out o' him;" but even this did not bring
Grizel to a proper frame of mind, so he said, to annoy her,

"At any rate you're fond o' me."

"I am not," she replied, stamping; "I think you are horrid."

"What else made you send Corp to me?"

"I did that because I heard you were calling yourself a blockhead."

"Oho," said he, "so you have been speiring about me though you winna
speak to me!"

Grizel looked alarmed, and thinking to weaken his case, said, hastily,
"I very nearly kept it from you, I said often to myself 'I won't tell
him.'"

"So you have been thinking a lot about me!" was his prompt comment.

"If I have," she retorted, "I did not think nice things. And what is
more, I was angry with myself for telling Corp to tell you."

Surely this was crushing, but apparently Tommy did not think so, for he
said, "You did it against your will! That means I hare a power over you
that you canna resist. Oho, oho!"

Had she become more friendly so should he, had she shed one tear he
would have melted immediately; but she only looked him up and down
disdainfully, and it hardened him. He said with a leer, "I ken what
makes you hold your hands so tight, it's to keep your arms frae
wagging;" and then her cry, "How do