22 THE FISH-MARKET. CHAP. n. 



now stands. There were long rows of benches on 

 which the fish were spread out. The benches were 

 covered in, and afforded an excellent shelter on a 

 rainy day. 



Tom was well known to the fishwives. "Here 

 comes the queer laddie," they would say as they saw 

 him approaching. And when he came up, they 

 would ask him, " Weel, man, fat are ye gaun to speer* 

 the day ? " Tom's inquiries were usually about fish 

 where they came from, what their names were, 

 what was the difference between the different fishes, 

 and so on. The fish-market was also a grand place 

 for big blue flies, great beetles with red and yellow 

 backs (burying beetles), and daylight rottens. They 

 were the tamest rats he had ever seen, excepting two 

 that he used to carry about in his pockets. His rats 

 knew him as well as a dog knows his master. 



But Tom's playing the truant and lingering about 

 the fish-market soon became known to his mother ; 

 and then she sent for her mother, Tom's grannie, to 

 take him to school. She was either to see him " in 

 at the door," or accompany him into the school 

 itself, But Tom did not like the supervision of his 

 grannie. He rebelled against it. He played the 

 truant under her very eyes. When grannie put him 

 in at the door, calling out "Bell!" to the school- 

 mistress upstairs, Tom would wait until he thought 

 the old woman was sufficiently distant, and then steal 



* Speer, to ask a question. 



