h! I min' noo. It maun be my
grandfather's fiddle 'at I hae heard tell o'.'

'No to ken a fiddle-case!' reflected Shargar, with as much of contempt
as it was possible for him to show.

'I tell ye what, Shargar,' returned Robert, indignantly; 'ye may ken the
box o' a fiddle better nor I do, but de'il hae me gin I dinna ken the
fiddle itsel' raither better nor ye do in a fortnicht frae this time. I
s' tak' it to Dooble Sanny; he can play the fiddle fine. An' I'll play
't too, or the de'il s' be in't.'

'Eh, man, that 'll be gran'!' cried Shargar, incapable of jealousy. 'We
can gang to a' the markets thegither and gaither baubees (halfpence).'

To this anticipation Robert returned no reply, for, hearing Betty come
in, he judged it time to restore the violin to its case, and Betty's
candle to the kitchen, lest she should invade the upper regions in
search of it. But that very night he managed to have an interview with
Dooble Sanny, the shoemaker, and it was arranged between them that
Robert should bring his violin on the evening at which my story has now
arrived.

Whatever motive he had for seeking to commence the study of music, it
holds even in more important matters that, if the thing pursued be
good, there is a hope of the pursuit purifying the motive. And Robert no
sooner heard the fiddle utter a few mournful sounds in the hands of the
soutar, who was no contemptible performer, than he longed to establish
such a relation between himself and the strange instrument, that, dumb
and deaf as it had been to him hitherto, it would respond to his touch
also, and tell him the secrets of its queerly-twisted skull, full of
sweet sounds instead of brains. From that moment he would be a musician
for music's own sake, and forgot utterly what had appeared to
him, though I doubt if it was, the sole motive of his desire to
learn--namely, the necessity of retaining his superiority over Shargar.

What added considerably to the excitement of his feelings on the
occasion, was the expression of reverence, almost of awe, with which
the shoemaker took the instrument from its case, and the tenderness with
which he handled it. The fact was that he had not had a violin in his
hands for nearly a year, having been compelled to pawn his own in order
to alleviate the sickness brought on his wife by his own ill-treatment
of her, once that he came home drunk from a wedding. It was strange to
think that such dirty hands should be able to bring su