' 'I hadn't a doubt of it!' said the
gentleman: 'that is the cause of all the disturbance.' 'That?' says
the master. 'That, and nothing else!' answers the gentleman. And
with that, as Harper confessed when he told me, there cam ower him
such a horror, that he daured nae longer stan' at the door; but for
goin' doon to the cellar to fetch the bottle o' wine, that was
merely beyond his human faculty. As it happed, I met him on the
stair, as white as a sheet, an' ready to drop. 'What's the matter,
Mr. Harper?' said I; and he told me all about it. 'Come along,' I
said; 'we'll go to the cellar together! It's broad daylight, an'
there's nothing to hurt us!' So he went down.
"'There, that's the box the thing was lyin' in!' said he, as we cam
oot o' the wine-cellar. An' wi' that cam a groan oot o' the varra
ground at oor feet! We both h'ard it, an' stood shakin' an' dumb,
grippin' ane anither. 'I'm sure I don't know what in the name o'
heaven it can all mean!' said he--but that was when we were on the
way up again. 'Did ye show 't ony disrespec'?' said I. 'No,' said
he; 'I but buried it, as I would anything else that had to be putten
out o' sight,' An' as we wur talkin' together--that was at the top
o' the cellar-stair--there cam a great ringin' at the bell, an' said
he, 'They're won'erin' what's come o' me an' their wine, an' weel
they may! I maun rin.
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