"I do indeed live, dear Ailie, to thank you for all your kindness, past and present, and to rejoice that there is at least one friend to welcome me to my native country."
"Friends!" exclaimed Ailie, "ye'll hae mony friends—ye'll hae mony friends; for ye will hae gear, hinny—ye will hae gear. Heaven mak ye a gude guide o't! But, eh, sirs!" she continued, pushing him back from her with her trembling hand and shrivelled arm, and gazing in his face as if to read, at more convenient distance, the ravages which sorrow rather than time had made on his face—"Eh, sirs! ye're sair altered, hinny, your face is turned pale, and your e'en are sunken, and your bonny red-and-white cheeks is turned a' dark and sun-burned. O weary on the wars! mony's the comely face they destroy.—And when cam ye here, hinny? And where hae ye been? —And what hae ye been doing ?—And what for did ye na write till us?—And how cam ye to pass yoursel for dead?—And
