Amanda Scott Read Online Free Page B

surprised murmuring broke out in the hall, but it stilled quickly when Mackinnon glowered at all and sundry and said gruffly,
     “Doubtless yon writ includes her estates and fortune, as well.”
    “Aye, it does,” Fin said steadily.
    Mackinnon grimaced. “I’d like fine t’ ken how ye persuaded Jamie t’ make ye such a gift, lad. Ha’ ye become one o’ his favorites
     o’ late? Because if ye have, I’d counsel ye t’ take special care. In my experience, any man who trusts Jamie’s word takes
     a fearful chance.”
    “I have no knowledge of how the King came to transfer the writ to me, sir,” Fin said evenly, adding, “A special messenger
     brought it only yesterday to Eilean Donan. On that, you have
my
word, and you have no experience that can lead you to mistrust me, because when I give my word, I keep it.”
    At Mackinnon’s side, Lady Mackinnon looked troubled. Her hands clutched one another tightly on the table before her.
    After a pause, during which Fin could hear angry winds outside hurling themselves against the castle walls, Mackinnon said
     gruffly, “I still say that ye be presenting your writ t’ the wrong man, lad. The Maid be ward t’ Donald of Sleat. He be chief
     o’ all the Macdonalds, and they dinna call him Donald the Grim wi’out cause. Forbye, ye must appeal t’ him, although I’m thinking
     that will do ye nae good at all.”
    “With respect, sir, I’m told you foster the Maid here at Dunakin, and the writ directs that I may collect her from her present
     dwelling place and take her to Eilean Donan. It explains his grace’s wishes quite clearly if you’ll only read it.”
    Mackinnon smiled wryly, saying, “D’ye expect t’ collect her mythical fortune, lad? Did our conniving Jamie promise ye riches?”
    “As to that, sir, his grace promised me naught, although the writ includes custody of her estate and that which was willed
     to her by her late father. I come only to collect the Maid. I know little as yet about her fortune.”
    “Aye, as little, I dinna doubt, as any man in Scotland. Ha’ they no told ye, laddie, that cleverer men than ye ha’ looked
     in vain for the lassie’s grand fortune? For m’self, I believe ’tis nobbut a golden gleam in Jamie’s fertile imagination— aye,
     and in Angus’s afore him.”
    “I know from the writ that the Maid is kin to Angus, but all it mentions of her personal history is that James granted Donald
     of Sleat a similar writ of wardship and marriage years ago, which Donald has failed—”
    “Och, aye, but then ye must ken that Jamie were nae more than a lad himself when Angus became his stepfather by marrying the
     sister o’ that scalawag Henry of England. Queen Mary soon got shut o’ Angus, o’ course, but he kept young Jamie under his
     thumb for two years after that, and it were during that time that Angus forced Jamie t’ grant him the Maid’s wardship. Her
     father, Gordon o’ Dunsithe, had but just died, ye see, and he were a man o’ parts. ’Twas said he were worth more than any
     o’ the King’s gentlemen, more even than his cousin the Earl o’ Huntly.”
    “I have heard such tales, of course,” Fin admitted. “Still, I thought they were most likely untrue, since no one can claim
     to have seen any part of her fortune other than the castle and its lands.”
    Mackinnon shrugged. “They do say there were gold and jewelry, chests full of the stuff, but ’tis true that nae man ha’ laid
     eyes on it since Gordon’s death. I, too, doubt that it exists. Still, some do, and nae one who wants the lass cares a whisker
     about her welfare. Why, I heard that when Angus abducted her—”
    “Abducted?”
    “Och, aye, did ye no ken that, either? Angus rode t’ Dunsithe not a fortnight after Gordon’s death and snatched her and her
     wee sister from their mother’s arms. The Maid were nobbut five years old at the time.”
    “But Angus did not marry her.”
    “Nay, for he were burdened wi’ troubles of