Had you,
instead of following your life of plundering, but come as a friend and
brother to Earl Hamish, it may be that you might have found your boy.
'Twas not for me to seek you out, or to send Lulach to the home of a
father who was no better than a murdering pirate. The lad was happier
where he was, even though he lived the life of a poor thrall."
"Alas! so near, so very near!" murmured Roderic. "And I believed that
the kelpie had carried off my bairns, while all the time it was but a
few brief miles of sea that divided us!
"My bairns? Ay, there were two. And the other -- the girl -- what of
her? What of my sweet, blue-eyed Aasta?"
"Aasta? She, my lord, is still in life."
"In Bute?"
"Ay, even in Bute."
"God be thanked for that!" sighed Roderic. "There is yet some happiness
in store for me. Where is she? Where may I see her?"
"This very day may you see her, my lord. Tonight the good abbot of St.
Blane's holds the festival of the New Year. Aasta will be within the
chapel."
"Alas! but I cannot show my face in the company of men," said Roderic.
"I am in hiding as an outlaw, and I am alone and ill-defended."
"Be, then, upon the headland of Garroch at the midnight hour," said
Elspeth. "Wait there, my lord, and I will send to you either Aasta
herself or else a messenger who will tell you all you may wish to know.
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