CHAPTER XXII. 



JOHN RETURNS TO THE GADIE. 



IN 1849, John Duncan returned once more to Auchleven, 

 to which he seems to have taken a liking, and there he 

 remained three years. He boarded as before with Sandy 

 Smith. John now worked at a loom in Smith's house, 

 and not, as at his last visit, in the mill. The poor, thatched 

 cottage was in a much more dilapidated condition than 

 when he had left it thirteen years before. It stood parallel 

 to the road not far from " the philosopher," in what is now 

 an open space, for the house was removed six years ago. 

 The kitchen was at the south end, a barn and byre in the 

 middle, opposite the door, and the workshop at the north. 

 There were two looms there, the one for the master, and 

 the other for John. The divisions between the apartments 

 consisted only of thin deals. John's loom being next 

 the byre, he could hear " crummie " chewing her grass, 

 ruminating her cud, rubbing herself against the wall, 

 breathing her long-drawn sighs and snorts through the 

 board just behind him, and, when she became impatient, 

 drowning the clatter of the shuttle with her loud bellow ; 

 while the odours of the byre pervaded the whole dwelling. 

 It was altogether a homely arrangement, somewhat in the 

 primitive Highland and Irish style. But there were then 

 no meddlesome sanitary inspectors to go poking about and 



