"The letters Tommy has been writing for people are very clever, are they not ?" she began.
"You've heard of them, have you ?" "Everybody has heard of them," she said injudiciously, and he groaned and asked if she had come to tell him this.

But he admitted their cleverness, whereupon she asked, "Well, if he is clever at writing letters, would he not be clever at writing an essay ?" "I wager my head against a snuff mull that he would be, but what are you driving at ?" "I was wondering whether he could not win the prize I heard Dr.McQueen speaking about, the--is it not called the Hugh Blackadder ?" "My head against a buckie that he could! Sit down, Grizel, I see what you mean now.

Ay, but the pity is he's not eligible for the Hugh Blackadder.

Oh, that he was, oh, that he was! It would make Ogilvy of Glenquharity sing small at last! His loons have carried the Blackadder for the last seven years without a break.

The Hugh Blackadder Mortification, the bequest is called, and, 'deed, it has been a sore mortification to me!" Calming down, he told her the story of the bequest.