Her first dread was that she had been found out; but hearing nothing of it, she concluded at last that her enemies the _rottans_ had carried it off and devoured it.
"Deil choke them upo' the wick o' 't!" exclaimed Curly, when she told him the next day, seeking a partner in her grief.
But a greater difficulty had to be encountered.

It was not long before she had exhausted her book, from which she had chosen the right poems by insight, wonderfully avoiding by instinct the unsuitable, without knowing why, and repelled by the mere tone.
She thought day and night where additional _pabulum_ might be procured, and at last came to the resolution of applying to Mr Cowie the clergyman.

Without consulting any one, she knocked on an afternoon at Mr Cowie's door.
"Cud I see the minister ?" she said to the maid.
"I dinna ken.

What do you want ?" was the maid's reply.
But Annie was Scotch too, and perhaps perceived that she would have but a small chance of being admitted into the minister's presence if she communicated the object of her request to the servant.

So she only replied, "I want to see himsel', gin ye please." "Weel, come in, and I'll tell him.