That was only yesterday--or the day afore, I'm thinkin', by this time .-- But what think ye could hae been in's heid wi' yon jingle aboot the horsie ?" "Ow! what wad be intil't but jist fulish nonsense?
Ye ken some fowk has a queer trick o' sayin' the same thing ower an' ower again to themsel's, wi'oot ony sense intil't.

There was the auld laird himsel'; he was ane o' sic.

Aye an' ower again he wad be sayin' til himsel','A hun'er poun'! Ay, a hun'er poun'!' It maittered na what he wad be speikin' aboot, or wha til, in it wad come!--i' the middle o' onything, ye cudna tell whan or whaur,--'A hun'er poun'!' says he;'Ay, a hun'er poun'!' Fowk leuch at the first, but sune gat used til't, an' cam hardly to ken 'at he said it, for what has nae sense has little hearin'.

An' I doobtna thae rimes wasna even a verse o' an auld ballant, but jist a cletter o' clinkin' styte (_nonsense_),'at he had learnt frae some blackamore bairn, maybe, an' cudna get oot o' 's heid ony ither gait, but bude to say't to hae dune wi' 't--jist like a cat whan it gangs scrattin' at the door, ye hae to get up, whether ye wull or no, an' lat the cratur oot." Cosmo did not feel quite satisfied with the explanation, but he made no objection to it.
"I maun alloo, hooever," the old woman went on, "'at ance ye get a haud o' THEM, they tak a grip o' YOU, an' hae a queer w'y o' hauntin' ye like, as they did the man himsel', sae 'at ye canna yet rid o' them.

It comes only at noos an' thans, but whan the fit's upo' me, I canna get them oot o' my heid.