Nathless, if your honour--'
'O, you mean I am to pay the farrier; but where shall we find one?'
Rejoiced at discerning there would be no objection made on the part of
his temporary master, Mr. Cruickshanks assured him that Cairnvreckan, a
village which they were about to enter, was happy in an excellent
blacksmith; 'but as he was a professor, he would drive a nail for no man
on the Sabbath or kirk-fast, unless it were in a case of absolute
necessity, for which he always charged sixpence each shoe.' The most
important part of this communication, in the opinion of the speaker, made
a very slight impression on the hearer, who only internally wondered what
college this veterinary professor belonged to, not aware that the word
was used to denote any person who pretended to uncommon sanctity of faith
and manner.
As they entered the village of Cairnvreckan, they speedily distinguished
the smith's house. Being also a public, it was two stories high, and
proudly reared its crest, covered with grey slate, above the thatched
hovels by which it was surrounded. The adjoining smithy betokened none of
the Sabbatical silence and repose which Ebenezer had augured from the
sanctity of his friend.
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