`` Hoot-toot ! '' said Uncle Ebenezer , `` dinnae fly up in the snuff at me . We 'll agree fine yet . And , Davie , my man , if you 're done with that bit parritch , I could just take a sup of it myself . Ay , '' he continued , as soon as he had ousted me from the stool and spoon , `` they 're fine , halesome food -- they 're grand food , parritch . '' He murmured a little grace to himself and fell to . `` Your father was very fond of his meat , I mind ; he was a hearty , if not a great eater ; but as for me , I could never do mair than pyke at food . '' He took a pull at the small beer , which probably reminded him of hospitable duties , for his next speech ran thus : `` If ye 're dry ye 'll find water behind the door . '' To this I returned no answer , standing stiffly on my two feet , and looking down upon my uncle with a mighty angry heart . He , on his part , continued to eat like a man under some pressure of time , and to throw out little darting glances now at my shoes and now at my home-spun stockings . Once only , when he had ventured to look a little higher , our eyes met ; and no thief taken with a hand in a man 's pocket could have shown more lively signals of distress . This set me in a muse , whether his timidity arose from too long a disuse of any human company ; and whether perhaps , upon a little trial , it might pass off , and my uncle change into an altogether different man . From this I was awakened by his sharp voice . `` Your father 's been long dead ? '' he asked . `` Three weeks , sir , '' said I. `` He was a secret man , Alexander -- a secret , silent man , '' he continued . `` He never said muckle when he was young . He 'll never have spoken muckle of me ? '' `` I never knew , sir , till you told it me yourself , that he had any brother . '' `` Dear me , dear me ! ''
said XXXXX .
Ay Davie Ebenezer Hoot-toot disuse eater muckle parritch snuff weeks