“You know what her father and his folk have been?”
“Yes, I know.”
“Oh, why did my father let me marry the man? He should rather have tied me hands and feet, and cast me into the depths of the sea. He should have said to me, ‘Nanna, you may have a bairn, and it may be a child of sin, and thus foreordained to hell-fire.’ Do you think then I would have wed Nicol Sinclair?”
“Ay, I think you would.”
“Do you believe that I was born for that end?”
“I think you had set your heart on Nicol at all risks.”
“At that time Nicol was in good favor with all folk.”
“You have told me that your father liked him not, and that he said many things to you against a marriage with him; so, then, if your heart had not been fully set on its own way, his ‘no’ would have been sufficient. If we heed not fathers and mothers and teachers, we should not heed, Nanna, no, not if one came from the dead to warn us.”
“That is an awful truth, David.”
“And one must speak truth to heal a wounded soul. If there be a canker in the body, you know well the doctor must not spare the sharp knife. But I would not put away hope for Vala–no, indeed!”