My uncle seemed to make a great effort upon himself . `` Dod man , David , '' he said , `` ye should-nae speak to me about your father . That 's where the mistake is . '' He sat awhile and shook , blinking in his plate : `` He was all the brother that ever I had , '' he added , but with no heart in his voice ; and then he caught up his spoon and fell to supper again , but still shaking . Now this last passage , this laying of hands upon my person and sudden profession of love for my dead father , went so clean beyond my comprehension that it put me into both fear and hope . On the one hand , I began to think my uncle was perhaps insane and might be dangerous ; on the other , there came up into my mind -LRB- quite unbidden by me and even discouraged -RRB- a story like some ballad I had heard folk singing , of a poor lad that was a rightful heir and a wicked kinsman that tried to keep him from his own . For why should my uncle play a part with a relative that came , almost a beggar , to his door , unless in his heart he had some cause to fear him ? With this notion , all unacknowledged , but nevertheless getting firmly settled in my head , I now began to imitate his covert looks ; so that we sat at table like a cat and a mouse , each stealthily observing the other . Not another word had he to say to me , black or white , but was busy turning something secretly over in his mind ; and the longer we sat and the more I looked at him , the more certain I became that the something was unfriendly to myself . When he had cleared the platter , he got out a single pipeful of tobacco , just as in the morning , turned round a stool into the chimney corner , and sat awhile smoking , with his back to me . `` Davie , '' he said , at length , `` I 've been thinking ; '' then he paused , and said it again . `` There 's a wee bit siller that I half promised ye before ye were born , '' he continued ; `` promised it to your father . O , naething legal , ye understand ; just gentlemen daffing at their wine . Well , I keepit that bit money separate -- it was a great expense , but a promise is a promise -- and it has grown by now to be a matter of just precisely -- just exactly '' -- and here he paused and stumbled -- `` of just exactly forty pounds ! '' This last he rapped out with a sidelong glance over his shoulder ; and the next moment added , almost with a scream , `` Scots ! '' The pound Scots being the same thing as an English shilling , the difference made by this second thought was considerable ; I could see , besides , that the whole story was a lie , invented with some end which it puzzled me to guess ; and I made no attempt to conceal the tone of raillery in which I answered -- `` O , think again , sir ! Pounds sterling , I believe ! '' `` That 's what I said , '' returned my uncle : `` pounds sterling ! And if you 'll step out-by to the door a minute , just to see what kind of a night it is , I 'll get it out to ye and call ye in again . '' I did his will , smiling to myself in my contempt that he should think I was so easily to be deceived .
It was a dark XXXXX , with a few stars low down ; and as I stood just outside the door , I heard a hollow moaning of wind far off among the hills .
David Davie kinsman minute morning night pounds siller smoking tobacco