`` David , '' says Alan . `` What was that ? '' cried my uncle , in a mighty changed voice . `` Shall I give ye the rest of the name , then ? '' said Alan . There was a pause ; and then , `` I 'm thinking I 'll better let ye in , '' says my uncle , doubtfully . `` I dare say that , '' said Alan ; `` but the point is , Would I go ? Now I will tell you what I am thinking . I am thinking that it is here upon this doorstep that we must confer upon this business ; and it shall be here or nowhere at all whatever ; for I would have you to understand that I am as stiffnecked as yoursel ' , and a gentleman of better family . '' This change of note disconcerted Ebenezer ; he was a little while digesting it , and then says he , `` Weel , weel , what must be must , '' and shut the window . But it took him a long time to get down-stairs , and a still longer to undo the fastenings , repenting -LRB- I dare say -RRB- and taken with fresh claps of fear at every second step and every bolt and bar . At last , however , we heard the creak of the hinges , and it seems my uncle slipped gingerly out and -LRB- seeing that Alan had stepped back a pace or two -RRB- sate him down on the top doorstep with the blunderbuss ready in his hands . `` And , now '' says he , `` mind I have my blunderbush , and if ye take a step nearer ye 're as good as deid . '' `` And a very civil speech , '' says Alan , `` to be sure . '' `` Na , '' says my uncle , `` but this is no a very chanty kind of a proceeding , and I 'm bound to be prepared . And now that we understand each other , ye 'll can name your business . '' `` Why , '' says Alan , `` you that are a man of so much understanding , will doubtless have perceived that I am a Hieland gentleman . My name has nae business in my story ; but the county of my friends is no very far from the Isle of Mull , of which ye will have heard . It seems there was a ship lost in those parts ; and the next day a gentleman of my family was seeking wreck-wood for his fire along the sands , when he came upon a lad that was half drowned . Well , he brought him to ; and he and some other gentleman took and clapped him in an auld , ruined castle , where from that day to this he has been a great expense to my friends .
My friends are a wee wild-like , and not so particular about the law as some that I could name ; and finding that the lad owned some decent folk , and was your born nephew , Mr. Balfour , they asked me to XXXXX ye a bit call and confer upon the matter .
brought digesting give perceived said seeking seems tell understand undo