noon
Before , I was full of the wine of youth , giving doubt of nothing a lodgment in my mind , acting ever on the impulse , sucking the lemon , seeds and all , and finding it unco sappy and piquant to the palate . To be face to face day after day with this old man 's grief , burdened with his most apparent double love , conscious that I was his singular bond to the world he would otherwise be keen to be leaving , set me to chasten my dalliance with fate . Still and on , our affection and its working on my prentice mind is nothing to dwell on publicly . I 've seen bearded men kiss each other in the France , a most scandalous exhibition surely , one at any rate that I never gazed on without some natural Highland shame , and I would as soon kiss my father at high noon on the open street as dwell with paper and ink upon my feeling to him . We settled down to a few quiet weeks after the troops had gone . Rumours came of skirmishes at Tippermuir and elsewhere . I am aware that the fabulous Wishart makes out that our lads were defeated by Montrose at every turning , claiming even Dundee , Crief , Strathbogie , Methven Wood , Philiphaugh , Inverness , and Dunbeath .