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fragrance that seemed to accompany her as she turned and made her way back to the castle.
    Later that evening, after supper was over, she lay in her bed, gazing through the open window, and watched the moon slip slowly into place beneath a scattering of stars as it settled over Màrrach Castle. Silent, round, and brilliant, its light was a shimmering moonbeam that slipped as softly as a babe’s breath into her room, and Elisabeth slept a charmed sleep, deep in the land of shadows.
    ***
    The next morning, she awoke from that bower of peace called slumber and remembered that as a child she called it the land of Nod for their mother told her children that it was a magical place where children went to sleep. She stretched, feeling at peace with the world and, more importantly, with herself.
    Full of a mixture of excitement and energy, she dressed, ate breakfast, and arrived in the solar before the others. Once everyone had gathered, Elisabeth put down her mending, which she had been given, because her other talents were found to be so lacking that she was appointed chief mender . Some might consider that humiliating, but Elisabeth saw it as a blessing, for she could practice her surgery stitches, although wishing as she did that she had a nice bowl of oranges to practice on.
    She waited until after the chatter died down, before she glanced at Isobella, looking lovely in a dress of a deep golden color, with the sun shining down upon her head like a radiant halo, which made her look like an angel. Motherhood became her, and if possible, she was even more beautiful than before.
    Next, she glanced at the expectant but puzzled faces of each of the sisters of Alysandir: Marion, Sybilla, Barbara, and the youngest, flame-haired Margaret. “I know all of you suspect something is going on here, and it is. I have decided the best thing for me is to leave Màrrach.
    â€œI don’t think I need to explain the reasons why, just as I know I don’t have to tell you that I will miss each of you in a thousand different ways. I do not see this as a separation, for a part of each of you will go with me, and I promise I shall come back to visit and hope you will do likewise once I am settled.”
    She then answered a barrage of questions from the Mackinnon sisters. “Where are you going?” Marion asked.
    Elisabeth replied, “To Soutra Aisle and the hospital there.”
    Barbara raised her brows. “Soutra Aisle? But that is a friary… but ye must have been told that already, so that makes me think ye ha’ the help of our uncle Lachlan.”
    Elisabeth laughed. “I had hoped that, at least once before I left, I could pull the wool over your eyes. I see that is not the case. And, yes, your uncle has given me a letter of introduction.”
    Barbara nodded. “I shan’t ask why ye have chosen this path, fer I would have done the same thing. I ken it is safe to say for all of us gathered here that we shall miss ye as much as a sister, and we send ye with our prayers fer much happiness to be waiting fer ye at the end o’ yer journey.”
    Elisabeth, who rarely cried, felt her eyes fill to the brim as she stood and hugged each one of them.

Chapter 4
    The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men
    go oft astray.
    â€”“To a Mouse” (1785)
    Robert Burns (1759–1796)
    Scottish poet and songwriter
    She should have known when the trip to Soutra Aisle started off exactly as planned that something was bound to go wrong, for didn’t bad things come in twos? Or was it threes?
    Elisabeth, accompanied by four of Alysandir Mackinnon’s brothers—Drust, Colin, Gavin, and Grim—had been riding in a misting rain that seemed never ending, when as quickly as it came, it was over. Warmed now by the sun and the nice feel of her clothes drying, she settled into pleasant conversation with the Mackinnons, forgetting that history often repeats itself.
    Suddenly, a cry rang out and