"You don't think he is to get any of the thirty pounds, do you?"
"'Deed if I did I should be better pleased, for he has been a good friend to us; but what maddens me is that every penny of it should go to those bare-faced scoundrels."
"What bare-faced scoundrels?"
"Them that have the club."
"But all the members have the club between them."
"Havers! I'm no to be catched with chaff."
"But don't you believe me?"
"I believe they've filled your head with their stories till you swallow whatever they tell you. If the place belongs to the members, why do they have to pay thirty pounds?"
"To keep it going."
"They dinna have to pay for their dinners, then?"
"Oh, yes, they have to pay extra for dinner."
"And a gey black price, I'm thinking."
"Well, five or six shillings."
"Is that all ? Losh, it's nothing. I wonder they dinna raise the price."
Nevertheless my mother was of a sex that scorned prejudice, and, dropping sarcasm, she would at times cross-examine me as if her mind was not yet made up. "Tell me this, if you were
