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"No, no," he said hastily "I didnaif--" The tips of his ears had gone a dull red He stood up abruptly, brushing dead leaves froerated force

"If," I said in et s, Jamie Fraser, I would have your balls en brochette" I rocked back, looking up at hih"

He stopped what he was doing and looked at ht show plainly on ain," I said, "I promise I won’t refuse it"

"Oh," he said He drew a deep breath, looking suddenly quite happy "Well, that’s all right, then It’s only--I wondered, ye ken"

A sudden loud rustling in the shrubbery was followed by the appearance of Mr Wemyss, whose thin, anxious face poked out of a nannyberry bush

"Oh, it’s yourself, sir," he said, in evident relief

"I suppose it nation "Is there a difficulty, Mr We becoled with the nannyberry bush, and I was obliged to go and help release hied to sell hihly unsuited to life in the wilderness

"I do apologize for troubling ye, sir," he said, rather red in the face He picked nervously at a spiny twig that had caught in his fair, flyaway hair

"It’s only--well, she did say as she meant to cleave him from crown to crutch wi’ her ax if he didna leave off, and he said no woman would speak to him in that manner, and she does have an ax"

Accustohed, reached out for the whisky flask, uncorked it, and took a deep, sustaining swig He lowered the flask and fixed Mr Weimlet eye

"Who?" he demanded

"Oh! Erdid I not say? Rosaood news; Rosas in a pit near the creek, over hickory ehed nearly two hundred pounds and, while norood-humored, was possessed of a notable temper when roused For his part, Ronnie Sinclair was entirely capable of irritating the Angel Gabriel, let alone a wohed and handed the flask back todroplets fro, Mr Wemyss," he said

Mr Wemyss’s thin face expressed the liveliest apprehension at the thought of coe of Rosareater He bobbed a quick, neat bow, turned, and blundered straight into the nannyberry bush again

A wail like an approaching ambulance betokened the appearance of Marsali, Joan in her ar branch fro to him as she stepped carefully round hiot to come Father Kenneth’s been arrested"

Jamie’s eyebrows shot up

"Arrested? Just now? By whom?"

"Aye, this minute! A nasty fat man who said he was sheriff o’ the county He came up o men and they asked as the priest, and when Father Kenneth said it was hiht off, with none soin Jaainst his thigh

"They’ve taken him from my hearth?" he said "A Dhia!"

This was plainly a rhetorical question, and before Marsali could answer it, a crunching of footsteps caht from behind a pine tree

"What?" he barked at her She blinked, taken aback

"AhGeordie Chisholm says one of the soldiers stole a hao and see Lieutenant Hayes about it?"

"Yes," he said proo back wi’ Marsali and find out where they’ve taken Father Kenneth And Mr We enaled his rush to fulfill his orders

A quick look at Jairls that a swift retreat was the order of the day, and within seconds, ere alone again He took a deep breath, and let it slowly out through his teeth