Page 54 of The Wild Rose of Kilgannon (Kilgannon #2)

I closed my eyes. The man is truly an idiot , I thought.

I have misjudged him all these months . I opened my eyes and looked at him.

“Let me understand,” I said at last. “I have to pay my uncle Harry, or now my brother, for a debt I did not know existed. And in the meantime, there will be a new factor at Kilgannon managing our lands and doing God knows what to our people. Oh, yes, Kenneth, now I understand why you are so pleased.”

Kenneth shook his head. “Mary, you are not asking the correct questions. Why did Harry go to the Tower and why did Alex sign the note?” He waited for my answer and when I gave none he continued.

“To establish that a debt was owed. And where is the money that Harry supposedly lent to Alex?” He reached into his jacket and withdrew a purse, holding it out to me.

“Here. Here is the money that Harry lent Alex. And more. Harry said you were to use it to pay the debt, but not just yet. He said you’d know the right time.

” I took the purse. It was heavier than I thought and it dropped into my lap where it lay as I stared at it.

“Uncle Harry had Alex sign a note admitting a debt but there was no debt previous to that?”

Kenneth nodded. “Correct.”

“And this money is the same amount that Harry applied to the court for?” I looked up at Kenneth.

“And more. Harry said there might be some other expenses that you might encounter.”

My head was spinning. “When did they do this?”

“Before the trial, Mary. Remember the research Harry had me do? Harry and I studied the previous rebellions. When his heart started paining him he feared he might not be here to direct everything as he wished, so he gave me the money. And his instructions. I have followed them. ”

“I see,” I whispered, looking from Kenneth to the purse on my lap, remembering Alex telling me that Harry’s schemes were convoluted. “They’ll come to naught, but nothing ventured…” he’d said. Oh, Harry , I thought as my eyes filled. How I misjudged you .

“After the rebellion of 1708,” Kenneth continued, “the same technique was used successfully to keep the lands of the Jacobites in their own hands or in the hands of their families. Many of the men in the Scottish Court of Sessions refuse to take the inherited lands of a Scottish peer, especially when that peer is someone they know. One of Alex’s Keith cousins is on the court and many of the others hold Alex in high esteem.

The lesson from the earlier rebellions was not lost on those men, Mary.

We may be under England’s yoke, but we will fight in any way we can.

That’s why the court appointed a new factor. ”

“Who is the new factor?” I asked, afraid of the answer.

Kenneth grinned. “Thomas MacNeill.”

“Thomas? But he’s already the factor. How…?”

Kenneth laughed. “He’s now the court’s factor as well.

It’s happening everywhere. Stirling of Keir’s estates have been given to his own steward, his kinsman Walter Stirling, and both Stirling and Walter Stirling are openly Jacobites.

My favorite thus far is the Earl of Carnwath.

The court appointed his mother as factor. ”

“But this makes no sense. If they mean to punish Alex…”

“The English mean to punish him, Mary, but the court are Scottish and they mean to keep Scottish assets in Scottish hands.”

“What does this all mean? ”

Kenneth smiled widely. “It means you can go home, Mary, with your children. You can go to Kilgannon and when the time is right you can discharge the debt to Alex’s creditor.

You can repay Will, but not yet. Perhaps not for several years, assuming he will not demand payment before then, which I will not,” my brother said emphatically.

Kenneth nodded, and continued. “Someday it will be safe to pay the debt and clear the charges. In the meantime you can live openly at Kilgannon and raise your children there. I have been assured by the court that no one will evict you.”

I closed my eyes. Home, I thought. We can go home. I opened my eyes and looked up at Kenneth. “I owe you an apology, sir,” I said. “I thought you did not understand our situation. But it was I who did not understand.”

“I know that, Mary,” he said, his tone kind. “I just did not know how to tell you. I’ve known about the court’s action for some time. That’s why Gilbey and I were in Edinburgh. We were waiting for their decision and their assurances.”

“Why did Harry not tell me this sooner?”

“He was afraid you could not stand the strain if his plan failed. What if the court did not recognize Harry’s claim?

What if they had decided otherwise? Harry had little faith in the Scots.

He didn’t want your hopes to be raised only to be dashed.

He wasn’t sure you could manage another disappointment. ”

Oh, Harry , I thought, perhaps you were right . I could not have stood another disappointment. I looked at the ring on my finger. Alex , I said silently, we can go home . How bittersweet it was now .

“And now,” Kenneth was saying, “we apply for a release for Alex, based on the indictment being incorrect. Have you heard that General Gordon has been freed?”

Randolph’s head snapped up. “General Gordon? The man who commanded the Jacobites’ right flank at Sherrifmuir? He is free?”

“He was indicted and attainted. He was in prison,” Will said.

Kenneth nodded at them. “He was, but he’s free now. And Farquharson of Inveraray. The same thing. Both men freed.”

“Why?” Will asked. “What happened?”

“They were attainted under the wrong Christian names. As Alex was.” Kenneth’s eyes met mine.

“Absurd, but there it is. A fine point of the law and one we will attempt to use. Now that Gordon and Farquharson have been freed, the courts will have grown accustomed to such mistakes. We have nothing to lose if we try the same thing.” I slumped against the back of the chair as Will squeezed my shoulder and Kenneth smiled at all of us.

“Start applying for Alex’s release, Kenneth,” Will said. “Name your fee, sir; I will gladly pay whatever you desire.”

Kenneth smiled. “I will get my pay, Your Grace. First let me be successful.”

“You will be,” I said. “You must be.”

“God willing, Mary,” Kenneth said quietly.

“God willing,” I echoed. I looked up into his kind eyes and then at Will and Louisa and Randolph.

“I have to tell the boys. And we must find Matthew.” Gilbey, who had listened quietly with the others, said he’d leave at once to try to catch Matthew and Gannon’s Lady in Bristol, and Kenneth insisted upon accompanying him. They left within moments.

* * *

The next few days were quiet. Randolph and Will were wearing themselves out riding back and forth to London, but no one was looking for us, nor asking about us, and no soldiers had returned to Louisa’s to search.

There was no news of DeBroun. Nor of Alex.

I suggested that we return to London, but my family would not hear of it.

For once I did as I was told and stayed at Mountgarden while Randolph and Louisa returned to London without me, promising to send word of any announcement at once.

The boys and I stood on the drive and waved until they were out of sight.

I tried to be calm as we waited for news and for Matthew and Gilbey to return, but I could not settle my thoughts.

Where was DeBroun? He would have no reason to stay hidden.

It made no sense. He must, though we’d not heard a breath of it, have returned to his home.

Or was he in hiding, thinking that the MacGannons would pursue him if he could be found at his home in London?

I wondered just where in Cornwall his property was.

The days passed slowly but they passed, each one shorter and colder as the year drew to a close.

Henrietta, the Mountgarden girl who had become the baby’s nurse, was incessantly cheerful.

She’d had vast experience helping to attend to her brothers and sisters and to her own small daughter, and taught me well how to care for my son.

Henrietta called the baby Master Alex. The boys and I called him the baby.

If I had considered it, I would have known that I would have to decide what to call him soon, but, like so many things, I chose not to think about it.

Will was with me one morning when I rocked my son and he commented on what a good child Alex was. I looked at him, startled.

“It is what you named him, Mary,” Will said.

“I’m not sure I will ever call him that,” I said. “For me there is only one Alex.”

My brother nodded at me. “And for most of us,” he said. “Then call him Robbie. It’s plain who you’re talking about. If someone asks you, tell them he’s named after his grandfather. Or his favorite uncle. Or Randolph.”

“But they won’t ask me, Will. They’ll just talk about me behind my back and they’ll say that he’s named after Robert.”

“Mary,” said Will, “since when do you care what they say about you? Or if you do care, since when do you let it change your behavior? If it bothers you, call him Harry. Or Lowell. Or Keith. Or Boy. Or whatever ‘boy’ translates into in Gaelic. You’re making too much of it.

Decide and you’ll grow accustomed to it in time. ”

I met his eyes and smiled at him. “Dear Will,” I said, but could say no more. He gently took my hand in his.

“It’s lovely to have you home, Mary. I hope you’ll stay after Alex…

I hope you’ll stay. Betty and I must see to Grafton, so you and the boys could live here.

I’ve told you, this will be your home forever.

Despite the circumstances, despite everything, it’s lovely to have you here.

” I nodded and ignored my tears and his moist eyes.

“Thank you,” I said. “Thank you, Will.”