About this story
Glendinning, take one man along the right-hand path and report any cottage within two miles. You step into this one-chapter preview with Jean Black at the center, where choices turn on the people, promises, and pressure already in the room. The girls' faint trail entered ground where hoofprints would be easy to read. The chapter closes on a continuation question rather than resolving the novel's larger arc.
How it opens
A troop of dragoons crossed the Cairn and Cluden in search of Andrew Black and a forbidden religious gathering.
OfficerGlendinning, take one man along the right-hand path and report any cottage within two miles.
GlendinningI choose the new lad Will Wallace; his legs and horse have not yet learned to complain.
You were Will, three weeks in the service and already appalled by cruelty committed under lawful colours.
Will WallaceI obey this search, but I cannot pretend delight in work that has so often become robbery and torment.
GlendinningI knew Andrew Black before, and an unpaid grievance makes me especially willing to find him.