26. Scotland, December 21st, 1824Paul’s slender fingers brushed the smooth, cold, curved surface of the copper still. He wanted to commit every detail of the apparatus to memory. His hand gently caressed the metal and, all of a sudden, Paul was surprised to feel a quiver of joy, blended with a hint of desire.
Since Shona, there had been no one in his life. Now he realised how much he regretted it, how incomplete he felt. His path represented a solitary journey; his separation from his family, combined with his precarious situation and future, made him a very poor match. Even if he’d found a woman willing to share this road strewn with suffering, would he have been willing to lead her there? Like one of his ancestors long ago, he’d become a monk devoted to whisky, married to this mistress
