"With all my heart," said the stranger; and, pronouncing the name of the fair maiden, quaffed off his liquor.
"Now, that's wiselike; there's some spirit in that," said Andrew, following his example; "let's be merry while we can; that's aye my creed. The ne'er a grain o' guid, as I used to say to my mother, comes out o' melancholy. Let's hae a sang--I see you hae a singing face--or I'll gie ye ane mysel, to mak a beginning."
So saying, with a voice like thunder broken into music, he sang as follows:--
In our young, young days, When the gowany braes Were our temple o' joy and glee, Some dour auld body would shake his head, And tell us our gladness away would flee, And our hearts beat as heavy as lead. Stupid auld body--silly auld body-- His mother spained him wi' a canker-worm. In our auld, auld days, the gowany braes Are memory's rainbows owre time and storm.
In our proud young days, When the gowany braes Kenn'd the feet o' my love and me, Some ill-matched carle would girn and say-- "Puir things! wi' a twalmonth's marriage, and ye Will find love like a snaw-ba' decay." Stupid auld carle--leein' auld carle-- His mother spained him wi' a canker-worm. In our auld, auld days, like gowany braes, Our love unchang'd, has its youthfu' form.
In our grey-haired days, When the gowany braes Are owre steep for our feet to climb-- When her back is bowed, and her lovely e'e, Once bricht as a beam frae the sun, is dim-- She'll be still my bit lassie to me. Stupid auld body--wicked auld body-- Love, like the gowan's a winter liver. The smile o' a wife is the sun o' its life, An' her bosom a brae where it blooms for ever.
A few minutes after Andrew had concluded his song, the fair daughter of their hostess entered the house. Andrew's first glance bespoke the lover, and the smile with which she returned it showed that the young fisherman and cadger was not an unaccepted wooer.
"By my sooth, fair maiden," said the stranger, "and thy sweet face doesna belie its fame; admiration fails in painting the loveliness of thy glowing cheeks, and thine een might make a moonbeam blush!"
He seemed practised in the art of gallantry, and poured into her ear other compliments in a similar strain. She hung her head, and turned it aside from him, as a woman will when flattered, or when she wishes to be flattered, but she did not rise to depart; and he felt that the incense which he offered to her beauty was not unacceptable. But the words and the attentions of the stranger were as daggers in the ears, and as wormwood in the heart of Andrew.