Only, gien he tuik 'im that same nicht, he cudna hae carried him far.

'Deed, maybe, the auld sinner was ower muckle aven for HIM.
"They brocht him hame, an' laid the corp o' him upo' his ain bed, whaur, I reckon, up til this nicht, he had tried mair nor he had sleepit.

An' that verra nicht, wha sud I see--but I'm jist gaein' to tell ye a' aboot it, an' hoo it was, an' syne ye can say yersel's.

Sin' my ain auld mither dee'd, I haena opent my moo' to mortal upo' the subjec'." The eyes of the two listeners were fixed upon the narrator in the acme of expectation.

A real ghost-story, from the lips of one they knew, and must believe in, was a thing of dread delight.