“No, no,” Andrew said quickly. “I’ve eaten a good meal and I have no need of anythin’ more than to talk to you aboot the future.”
“The future?” Talbot questioned.
“I came South to England to find her Ladyship,” Andrew explained, “and to tell her that, as her father, the Earl, is dead, that she was now the Chieftain of the Clan.”
Talbot looked at him in surprise.
“I had forgotten until you said that,” Talbot exclaimed, “that my mother told me that in Scotland inheritance can go through the female line if there is no male heir. But, of course, she would have assumed, once her father had died, that her brother would become the next Chieftain.”
“The place,” Andrew said solemnly, “would have been filled by Lady Janet, but now that she’s no longer with us, it is, of course, Mr. Marsham, you
