“Ow! naebody. Wha wad pay me for that?”
“Why, the schoolmaster.”
“Na, but that wad be an affront, my lord!”
“How can you afford the time for nothing?”
“The time comes to little, compairt wi’ what Mr Graham gies me i’ the lang forenichts—i’ the winter time, ye ken, my lord,—whan the sea’s whiles ower contumahcious to be meddlet muckle wi’.”
“But you have to support your grandfather.”
“My gran’father wad be ill-pleased to hear ye say ’t, my lord. He’s terrible independent; an’ what wi’ his pipes, an’ his lamps, an’ his shop, he could keep ’s baith. It’s no muckle the likes o’ us wants. He winna lat me gang far to the fishin’, so that I hae the mair time to read an’ gang to Mr Graham.”
As the youth spoke, the marquis eyed him with apparently growing interest.
“But you haven’t told me whether your boat is a proper one,” said the lady.
“Proper eneuch, mem, for what’s required o’ her. She taks guid fish.”