"
"No, no; I must not waste any more time. A man who cannot drink cold
coffee ought to come down while it is hot."
"Forgue won't drink cold coffee!" said Davie: "I don't see why you
should!"
"Because I prefer to do with my coffee as I please; I will not have
hot coffee for my master. I won't have it anything to me what humour
the coffee may be in. I will be Donal Grant, whether the coffee be
cold or hot. A bit of practical philosophy for you, Davie!"
"I think I understand you, sir: you would not have a man make a fuss
about a trifle."
"Not about a real trifle. The co-relative of a trifle, Davie, is a
smile. But I would take heed whether the thing that is called a
trifle be really a trifle. Besides, there may be a point in a trifle
that is the egg of an ought. It is a trifle whether this or that is
nice; it is a point that I should not care. With us highlanders it
is a point of breeding not to mind what sort of dinner we have, but
to eat as heartily of bread and cheese as of roast beef. At least so
my father and mother used to teach me, though I fear that refinement
of good manners is going out of fashion even with highlanders."
"It is good manners!" rejoined Davie with decision, "--and more than
good manners! I should count it grand not to care what kind of
dinner I had. But I am afraid it is more than I shall ever come to!"
"You will never come to it by trying because you think it grand.
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