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"I’ve never seen Buckingham Palace," he said, rather h, Sassenach"

"Good" I bent closely over his pal to make out the small dark streaks of splinters, trapped beneath the skin

"I suppose it willna fall down, at least," he said, after a longer pause

"Shouldn’t think so" I dabbed a cloth to the neck of the brandy bottle, swabbed his hand with it, then turned ht hand

He didn’t speak for a ti up now and then as a draft reached in between the logs to tickle it

"The house is going to be on the high ridge," he said suddenly "Where the strawberries grow"

"Will it?" Ito be at the side of the clearing" I’d taken out as many splinters as I could; those that were left were so deeply embedded that I would have to wait for them to work their way nearer the surface

"No, not the cabin A fine house," he said softly He leaned back against the rough logs, looking across the fire, out through the chinks to the darkness beyond "Wi’ a staircase, and glass s"

"That will be grand" I laid the tweezers back in their slot, and closed the box

"Wi’ high ceilings, and a doorway high enough I shall never bu in"

"That will be lovely" I leaned back beside him, and rested my head on his shoulder Somewhere in the far distance, a wolf howled Rollo lifted his head with a soft wuff!, listened for a h

"With a stillroom for you, and a study for me, lined with shelves for my books"

"Mmmm" At the moment, he possessed one book--The Natural History of North Carolina, published 1733, brought along as guide and reference

The fire was burning low again, but neither of us h the night, to be rekindled with the dawn

Ja sideways, took ether on the thick layer of fallen leaves that was our couch

"And a bed," I said "You could build a bed, I expect?"

"As fine as any in Buckingham Palace," he said

Myers, bless his kindly heart and faithful nature, did return within thenot only three pack-s, and necessities such as salt, but also Duncan Innes

"Here?" Innes looked interestedly over the tiny houn to take shape on the strawberry-covered ridge We had two sturdy sheds now, plus a split-railed penfold in which to keep the horses and any other stock we ht acquire

At the let, which Jamie had obtained fro for it a bag of sweet ya brooms I had made Rather too s in the shed with us, where it had become fast friends with Rollo I wasn’t quite so fond of it myself

"Aye It’s decent land, with plenty of water; there are springs in the wood, and the creek all through"

Jauided Duncan to a spot froe were visible; there were natural breaks, or "coves" in the forest, now overgroith tangles of wild grass, but ultiestured over the slope, which ran down gently froe to a small bluff, where a line of sycae "There’s room there for at least thirty homesteads, to start We’d need to clear a deal of forest, but there’s space enough to begin Any crofter worth his salt could feed his faarden plot, the soil’s so rich"

Duncan had been a fisherman, not a farmer, but he nodded obediently, eyes fixed on the vista as Jamie peopled it with future houses

"I’ve paced it out," Jah it will have to be surveyed properly as soon as may be But I’ve the description of it inink and paper?"

"Aye, we did And a few other things, as well" Duncan s, rather melancholy face transformed by the expression "Miss Jo’s sent a feather bed, which she thought ht not come amiss"