"There's Eppie Sma'trash will trust us for ale," said Caleb to
himself--"she has lived a' her life under the family--and maybe wi' a
soup brandy; I canna say for wine--she is but a lone woman, and gets
her claret by a runlet at a time; but I'll work a wee drap out o' her by
fair means or foul. For doos, there's the doocot; there will be poultry
amang the tenants, though Luckie Chirnside says she has paid the kain
twice ower. We'll mak shift, an it like your honour--we'll mak shift;
keep your heart abune, for the house sall haud its credit as lang as
auld Caleb is to the fore."
The entertainment which the old man's exertions of various kinds
enabled him to present to the young gentlemen for three or four days was
certainly of no splendid description, but it may readily be believed
it was set before no critical guests; and even the distresses, excuses,
evasions, and shifts of Caleb afforded amusement to the young men, and
added a sort fo interest to the scrambling and irregular style of their
table. They had indeed occasion to seize on every circumstance that
might serve to diversify or enliven time, which otherwise passed away so
heavily.
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