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Leadem, Christopher

"Highland Ballad"

For now he had found the weak place in her
armor, the secret refuge of her soul. One thought only kept hammering
at her brain. Admit nothing.
At all costs she must not let this shark catch scent of her son's
blood.
And in fact the identity of the second prisoner was not known to him,
though his insight and shrewd guesses had brought him dangerously
close to the truth. Beside the number 406, the reported friend and
fellow fugitive of James Talbert, were written these words: No name
given, possible memory loss from head wound, called by fellow
prisoners `Jamie'
. This was the small victory that Michael had won during the first
brutal year of his captivity: he would not give up his true name. His
identity, and therefore his life, remained hidden.
But through the uncanny memory for persons and places which every
tyrant must possess, the Lord Purceville recalled a sturdy youth,
several years older than his son, who had once accompanied the Scotts
on a visit to Margaret MacCain, during the time of her employment at
his estate---the fierce disdain he had shown as he stepped from the
carriage, and spied its hated Master.


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