the street, had he not
judged it wiser to protect his property, and the windows above the shop
were full of faces. Opposite his own most respectable place of business
the street was crammed from side to side with a seething mob, through
which Mr. McGuffie senior was striving to drive a dogcart with slender
success and complaining loudly of obstruction. Respectable working women
were there, together with their husbands, having finished the day's
work; country folk who dropped into town on the Saturday had been
attracted to the scene; the riff-raff of Muirtown had come out from
their dens and lodging-houses, together with that casual population
which has nothing particular to do and is glad of any excitement. They
were of various kinds and different degrees of respectability, but they
were all collected in answer to Bailie MacConachie's generous offer;
they were also all ready to buy the tea, and a large number of them
particularly ready for the whisky. The first to arrive on the scene had
been Tinkler Tam, who put down elevenpence-halfpenny in copper money
upon the counter with a crash, and informed the Bailie's senior
assistant that to save time he would just take the whisky while they
were making up the tea, and was promptly ordered out of the shop for an
impudent, drunken blackguard. Thomas, in the course of a varied life,
was not unaccustomed to be called disrespectful names, and it was not
the first time he had been requested to leave high class premises; but
for once, at least, he had a perfectly good conscience and a strong
ground of complaint.

"Impident, am I, and drunken, did ye say, ye meeserable, white-faced
effeegy of a counter-jumper? If I werena present on business I would put
such a face on you that yir mother wouldna know you; but I'm here wi' my
friends" (great applause from the doorway, where the crowd was listening
to the interview) "for a commercial transaction. Div ye no ken, ye
misshapen object, that we're here on a special invitation of yir master,
sent this mornin' to the Vennel?" (strong confirmation given under oath
by Jess Mitchell), "and I'll juist give you the terms thereof, ye
two-faced, leein', unprincipled wratch" (enthusiastic support from the
street).

The ambassador of the proletariat--whose constituency filled the outer
part of the shop, pressed their faces against the window and swayed with
impatience across the street, and also seized a lamp-post for purposes
of observation--rehea