Amanda Scott Read Online Free PDF

he climbed down the rope and probably swam ashore. What I cannot tell you is how he got the rope or dislodged the bars from the window. We found them on the ground, not in the cell. But that window is high in the cell wall. I cannot believe the man simply knocked them out.”
    “There was no deterioration in the stonework around the bars?”
    Patrick grimaced. “The whole castle is deteriorating, like the rest of our Highland fortresses. The only place in Scotland that has seen improvement these past six years is Inveraray Castle, which I’m told, has become the pride of Argyll’s holdings. That is as it should be, of course, since it is the ducal seat. Still and all, I’m lucky even to get oatmeal to feed my men. But so it has always been, even during the rebellion.” He paused, apparently reflecting on what he had said. Then, with a rueful twinkle, he added, “I ought not to speak so candidly, I know. Doubtless it comes of seeing so little of you these past six years. I feel as if no time has passed, as if we still can speak as schoolmates.”
    “We can,” Rory said, smiling at him. “We are not only friends, Patrick. We are loyal members of the same clan.”
    “Of which Argyll is chief,” Patrick reminded him soberly.
    “Aye, but he would never demand that one Campbell betray another.”
    “So long as that policy suits his purpose.”
    Rory was silent.
    After a moment, Patrick said, “I take full responsibility for Breck’s escape, of course. I’ll send word of it to Argyll at once.”
    “You do that,” Rory said. “I shall also write to him. I’ll tell him that, if he wants to keep prisoners here, he must send material to repair the tower properly, because a man seems to have pushed the bars out of his window with his fingertips and climbed to the ground as if he had walked down an outer stairway.”
    Patrick’s sigh was audible. “Thank you, my friend. If there is anything I can do to express my gratitude …”
    “There is,” Rory said, grinning at him and ignoring the wee voice in his head that wondered more persistently with each passing moment why he did not tell Patrick about the very odd serving wench he had hired, a wench who might well have had a hand in the escape. Instead, he said, “I have been without female company for weeks now, and when you accosted me earlier, my eye had just fallen upon the most winsome creature.”
    Patrick looked surprised. “You want a serving wench?”
    “Not just any serving wench. I’ve a notion this one is unusual.”
    “Oh, aye, I know the one, the dark-haired one with eyes as bright and alert as a sparrow’s. I did not know her before she came here, but she’s a MacKissock, I think she said. When she laughs, her eyes twinkle like stars reflected in the loch.”
    “Faith, man, have you an interest in that direction yourself?”
    “Lord, no! My wife would whack off my pintle with a claymore. She hasn’t seen the wench yet, but I think she’ll take to her well enough. One of the others left, so when Mab showed up looking for work, I took her on. I’ve had no complaints. The lads like her, and she has a knack for setting them at a distance. I like that.”
    Again the wee voice spoke, but Rory knew now that he had no intention of describing his first meeting with Mab MacKissock. Not yet. The wench intrigued him and he wanted to confront her himself, to unmask her, and … and then what? He put the question out of his head. First he would see her and talk to her. With that in mind, he said with a laugh to Patrick, “I doubt she will dare keep me at a distance. Will you send her to my chamber?”
    “Aye, if you like. I don’t recall your having a taste for maidservants,” he added with a twinkle. “I do remember a lass in Edinburgh when we returned from school, but she was more buxom than young Mab, and a saucy creature besides.”
    Rory chuckled. “I’ll thank you to leave ancient history in the past where it belongs, old friend. That was