"War! What war?"
Then she explained that Britain and France and Russia and the Allies
were fighting against Germany.
"Now that I come to think of it," I said reflectively, "I _did_ see a
lot of khaki about to-day."
"Down't you get the pypers in Scotland?" she asked.
"Thousands of them, Mrs. Lewis; why, every Scot plays the pipes."
"I mean the pypers, not the pypers," she explained.
"Oh, I see! We do get a few; English travellers leave them in the
trains, you know."
She thought for a little.
"It must be nice livin' in a plyce w'ere everyone knows everyone else.
My sister Sally's married to a pynter in Dundee, Peter Macnab; do you
know 'im?"
I explained that Peter and I were almost bosom friends. Then she asked
me whether I knew what his wage was. I explained that I did not know.
She then told me how much he gave Sally to keep house with, and I began
to regret my temerity in claiming a close acquaintance with the erring
Peter. Mrs. Lewis at once began to recount the family history of the
Macnabs, and I blushed for the company I kept.