Sentence The Sevenhundredandseventh

 

And so it was that Daphne and Maude returned today to The Ship Inn where they had arranged a 

tête-à-tête with the two Professor Sir Clement Danes – Daphne carried a talisman, a carving in jet of a crouching cat, ready to pounce, brought from Mesopotamia by her father, while Maude brought the geoid map, produced at short notice and great personal expense to the Cartographer Royal of Scotland, Sir Capercaillie Gillyfeather, a childhood chum of hers who could never say 'No' to Maude and was therefore, quite susceptible to her entreaties: "you must appreciate, dearest Maude," was his usual opening response to her Alexandrian Gambit, after which he was putty in her nimble hands and, after insisting that he was no green-collar laddie, would pull out his tools, pens, rulers, inks and erasers and set to work to satisfy her needs; Sir Capercaillie had never married, the torch he carried in his breast for Maude had burned bright for sixty years and he could gainsay her not one whit, which was why he had carried the Map himself from Edinburgh in a waterproof case to present it to her at Tweedbank Railway Station and now accompanied the two ladies as they entered the Ship; it was like stepping into another day, a lacuna, another world: outside the sun was splitting the sky, within, darkness and gloom, with only Owd Boab, Wee Eck, Fat Frank and Young Dod sitting nursing their

pints of 80/- at the bar, four pairs of eyes saw reflected in the long mirror the door opening and three persons enter, they recognised the two ladies but the other was a mystery to them so they ignored him and returned to their dissection of yesterday's match at The Greenyards and the ladies took their friend through to the rear bar where the two Professors were already seated, with a glass of Laphroaig before each of them – it is interesting factoid that Academics drink twice as much Single Malt Whisky as any two other professions put together, but not a lot of people know that! so when Sir Capercaillie asked Daphne and Maude what they would like, there was no surprise that they said they would gladly join the two seated professors in Laphroaig, but when Maude said that she would pay, Sir Capercaillie replied: "shy bairns get nowt, so be seated, Lass, an' ah'll bring 'em ower tae't table," at which they plonked themselves beside the two Sir Clements and began explaining the reason for

this Brains Trust Meeting: "we are," said Daphne, "indisputably, the most erudite people in this place," at which one of the Sir Clements peered across the Bar towards the four wise men sitting nursing their pints, and said "moot point, Daphne, we might be outscored by those Four Just Men," and chuckled; Maude glared at him and said, "they may be Just Four Men but they have more brains them than two so-called men through here who have but one mind between the pair of them!" which was fairly well throwing down the gauntlet, but neither of the Professor Danes seemed inclined to pick it up; then, after paying Rusty Nails, Maude's 'Old Flame' sat down beside her and handed the ladies their glasses of the amber nectar, with it's smoky, peaty taste, and took a dainty sip of his own pink gin.