Ye couldn't have come at a worse time.

I've only been here a fortnight myself, and we haven't got right shaken down yet.

Even then I might have made shift to do with ye, but the fact is we've illness in the house, and I'm fair at my wits' end.

It breaks my heart to turn gentlemen away and me that keen to get the business started.

But there it is!" He spat vigorously as if to emphasize the desperation of his quandary.
The man was clearly Scots, but his native speech was overlaid with something alien, something which might have been acquired in America or in going down to the sea in ships.