“Och, how tender you are of our welfare!” said Alex derisively. “And that, I suppose, is why you were so quick to tell her all about how Ian and I met the King and Montrose in Oxford?”
There was no use trying to explain, for he would never believe her—not that she cared a groat what Alex MacDonald thought, anyway. Perhaps she would be able to tell Ian about it some day, with Alex not around. An idea was growing in her mind. After glowering at Alex, she turned to Ian and looked up at him meltingly through long lashes. She had never before set out to beguile a lad, but Janet had put the thought in her head, and she might as well try now and see could she do it. Some deep instinct awoke, so that she seemed to know just how to go about it. “And what is it you are doing so far from Glenfern?” she asked softly.
Was it her fancy that Ian’s smile seemed a wee bit warmer than usual? “Why,” he said, “we are with Colkitto’s army, up at Blair Atholl, and—”
Kelpie forgot about beguiling him. “Colkitto!” she yelped. “You mean Antrim?”
“Aye, ’tis what we call him; Alistair MacDonald, Earl of Antrim, who has—”
“Fine I know that!” interrupted Kelpie. “But where will Mac Cailein Mor be, then? On your tail?” There was alarm in her voice, and both lads regarded her curiously.
“Na, na,” Ian said soothingly. “He’s away back to his own country, raising a larger army, no doubt, since some five hundred Gordons have joined us. Are you afraid of him, Kelpie? And what are you doing here, and where are you living?”
Kelpie looked wistful. “I am all alone, and nowhere to five.” She sighed and then smiled up at him brightly. “It is in my mind to come along with you,” she announced.
Alex laughed. Unprincipled little thing though she was, he did enjoy her shameless, incorrigible audacity! The workings of her mind fascinated him, and even though he could see through her so easily, he could never remain angry for long.
Ian looked thoughtful. “Well, and why not? We’ve nearly as many women and bairns as we have men, for Colkitto brought the whole of his clan over with him to take back their land from the Campbells. And Lachlan brought his wife Maeve along to be cooking and nursing and caring for us, for she does not trust Lachlan to do it properly. You’d be far safer than wandering alone. What about it, Alex?”