Both he and she were yet
young to think of such matters, but he loved her right well, and in a
few years' time he might even follow the example of her brother Allan
and take unto himself a wife. And if Ailsa would yield to him -- But he
checked himself in his dreams. All this possible good fortune must
depend upon the issue of his encounter with Roderic.
Standing there at the mouth of the cave, he felt the sharp frost
penetrating his limbs, and he turned away.
Regaining the higher ground he began to run, and soon his feet grew
warm. Slackening his pace, he walked down towards Ascog Loch, listening
the while for the sounds of Aasta's footsteps. Elspeth had told him that
the maiden would surely return to the cave two hours before midnight.
But she had not come. Had some disaster overtaken her? Whither had she gone?
The story that Elspeth Blackfell had told him had sunk deep in his mind.
It explained many things that had before been mysteries to him. He saw
in it an explanation of why he had been drawn in affection towards
Aasta, and why, in spite of her having been a bondmaid, he had
recognized that she was of gentle blood. He was glad that he had given
her freedom from her thralldom. And now he thought of how she had
bestowed upon him the great sword of his noble ancestor, and reflected
that king Somerled was in truth Aasta's ancestor no less than his own.
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