"But gey soon I found that I was expected to spend a good share
o' my pay in drink, while Walker took a', an' never spent a penny. So it
was, that for a' the money we made we've been gey little the better o't,
an' very much the worse o' it. Without exception we shared penny aboot
with Walker on every bargain we got, an' I ken he has a guid bank
balance, while I hae nane.
"Noo, this is a rotten story frae end to end o't," he went on after a
short pause to wipe his face with a handkerchief. "I allowed him to
ruin my wife's character. I kent it was gaun on a' the time; but like
mony mair I hae kent, a manager's favor was mair to me than the honor o'
a wife. I let him tak' a share o' the money I made, an' spent my ain to
keep him up on drink. But noo it's ended a'. A wheen o' weeks syne, a
man ca'd Tam Granger came to the place and his wife being young an'
fresh, an' guid-looking, besides being free, Walker's fancy was ta'en
wi' her. So you ken what it means, when a gaffer carries on like that,
an' the man is saft enough as weel as the woman being willin'. Tam got
my contracts this week, an' I have to gang back into a common place and
howk coals.
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