“The duke values his good name and his hard-earned reputation above all else.” Sighing, her mother picked up the Morning Post, shredded it neatly, and threw it into the smouldering fire. “I have never in my life seen him so upset as when he read this. To have it arrive as it did, in the last post on Christmas Eve, too, when we had a houseful of guests. Have you any idea how difficult it was for us to continue with the celebrations as normal? Some of your cousins look forward to the occasion all year long, you know. Our little family traditions and ceremonies mean a great deal to everyone.”

Including her! And yet she had been excluded and forced to spend a solitary and miserable Christmas alone at Dalkeith. But she was resolved not to look back, only forward. “How can we repair the damage done, Mama? Whatever it takes, I promise I will do my utmost. Ex adversis dulcis. Ex adversitas felicitas.”

She was rewarded with a very small smile. “There is certainly no shortage of adversity for you to take strength from. Do you mean it, when you say that you are resolved?”

“With all my heart. If it is in the family’s best interests for me to marry Killin, then so be it.”

“You sound as if you are about to step into the tumbrel and head for the guillotine.”

“I assure you I am wholly reconciled to the situation.”

He mother narrowed her eyes. “That is a significant volte-face.”

“Yes, it is, but it is a genuine one.”

“I don’t doubt your intentions, Margaret, only your resolve. Can you truly curb this habit you have of questioning every decision your father and I take with regards your well-being, and simply heed our wishes?”

Before her exile, Margaret would have assured her mother that she could do exactly that, because she would have desperately wanted to avoid disappointing her. But the new Margaret tried very hard to think before she spoke, and was set upon trying to be scrupulously honest. “I understand where my duty lies and I am eager to discharge it. Even if it means marrying Killin.” Despite her best intentions, his name made her shudder slightly. She straightened her shoulders. “If he will have me.”

“I am more optimistic in that regard than the duke. I believe Killin is still willing to consider—and I emphasise consider—the possibility of taking you as his wife. That demonstrates great generosity of spirit on his part.”

“Or a good deal of ambition. Not,” Margaret amended hastily, recalling Lochiel’s thoughts on the subject, “that there is anything wrong with a man wishing to better himself.”