Next door the kirk was an olden tower, built in the time of the Roman Catholics ….

Seemingly here was an intruder who was violating custom. Moreover, the partners had come to look upon this exceedingly rich district as their exclusive property. And so their indignation was extreme. / The low-down, ornery cuss! said Dobbs. The nerve of him, crowdin' in on us, just as if there wasn't lots of other places for him to go!

[N]obody knows how the wind is tempered to shorn Irish lambs, and in what marvellous places they find pasture.

Sometimes people tell you directly that you aren't very smart, but most of the time they ignore your attempts to display your intelligence, or they kid you about being a space case or an airhead. After a while you are bound to see yourself as not very intelligent, particularly if the people who have been sending you those messages about yourself are important to you.