“Aye so,” said Alex cynically, “but a bit late, now that Argyll has got all the Lowlands and some of the Highlands well under the thumb of the cursed Covenant! Were you knowing that the Covenant army has crossed the border into England and will be fighting along with the Parliament army against the King?”
“Dhé!” exclaimed Glenfern in dismay. “Is it too late, then? Why was the King waiting so long?”
Alex shrugged. “Och, King Charles has a grand talent for not seeing what he doesn’t like, and for doing the wrong thing altogether or the right thing too late.”
Ian, whose loyalty was a simple and wholehearted thing, frowned at his foster brother. “He’s our king and a Stewart,” he reminded him and then turned to his father. “At any rate, we were thinking we’d best come home while we still could—and perhaps join Montrose when he arrives.”
None of this meant a great deal to Kelpie, so she began looking around with greedy wonder at the drawing room. Och, the glowing fine old silver on the sideboard, the great portraits on the tapestry-hung walls, the grand, massive carved furniture worn smooth as silk by time and polish, and the damask draperies at real glass windows! It wasn’t fair that some people should have so much! They should be sharing it, they should, and it was up to Kelpie, she felt, to see to the sharing.
A small silver snuff box was lying on a table near her; an instant later, it wasn’t. Kelpie’s long slanted eyes flickered with satisfaction, but before she could so much as thrust her loot under her rags, a redheaded figure bent over her and a sinewy long hand grasped her wrist gently but with great strength.
“Really, Ian,” observed Alex lazily, “you must be paying more attention to your guest.”
“Ssssss!” said Kelpie, again wishing she could cast the Evil Eye on him. But instead the eyes of the entire family were now on her.
“My sorrow!” said Ian ruefully. “I was forgetting!”
“A shame to all of us, and she injured!” declared his mother, standing up. “’Tis only for the night, you were saying, Ian? Well, so, we will see to the shoulder—but not in the house, I think,” she added, looking at Kelpie’s filthy clothes.