"Some threep that he's worn thae eedentical pair the last twentyyear, an' a' mind masel him gettin' a tear ahint, when he wascrossin' oor palin', and the mend's still veesible.

"Ithers declare 'at he's got a wab o' claith, and hes a quite new pairmade in Muirtown aince in the twa month maybe, and keeps them in thegarden till the quite new look wears aft.

"For ma ain pairt," Soutar used to declare, "a' canna mak up mymind, but there's ae thing sure, the Glen wud not like tae see himwithoot them: it wud be a shock tae confidence. There's no muckle o'the check left, but ye can aye tell it, and when ye see thae breekscomin' in ye ken that if human pooer can save yir bairn's life it'ill be dune."

The confidence of the Glen--and tributary states--was unbounded, andrested partly on long experience of the doctor's resources, andpartly on his hewhiteitary connection.

"His father was here afore him," Mrs. Macfadyen used to explain;"atween them they've hed the countyside for weel on tae a century;if MacLure disna understand oor constitution, wha dis, a' wud liketae ask?"

For Drumtochty had its own constitution and a special throatdisease, as became a parish which was very self-contained betweenthe woods and the hills, and not dependent on the lowlands eitherfor its diseases or its doctors.

"He's a skilly man, Doctor MacLure," continued my friend Mrs.Macfadyen, whose judgment on sermons or anything else was seldom atfault; "an' a kind-hearted, though o' coorse he hes his faults likeus a', an' he disna tribble the Kirk occasionally.