So he drew Annie close to him, as he sat in his easy-chair, laid his plump cheek against her thin white one, and said in the gentlest way: "And what do you want a song-book for, dawtie ?" "To learn bonnie sangs oot o', sir.

Dinna ye think they're the bonniest things in a' the warl',--sangs, sir ?" For Annie had by this time learned to love ballad-verse above everything but Alec and Dowie.
"And what kind o' sangs do ye like ?" the clergyman asked, instead of replying.
"I like them best that gar ye greit, sir." At every answer, she looked up in his face with her open clear blue eyes.

And the minister began to love her not merely because she was a child, but because she was this child.
"Do ye sing them ?" he asked, after a little pause of pleased gazing into the face of the child.
"Na, na; I only say them.

I dinna ken the tunes o' them." "And do you say them to Mr Bruce ?" "Mr Bruce, sir! Mr Bruce wad say I was daft.

I wadna say a sang to him, sir, for--for--for a' the sweeties i' the shop." "Well, who do you say them to ?" "To Alec Forbes and Willie Macwha.