“There may be a medical explanation, I do not know. But in Scotland I know that everyone will believe that what happened today was the result of the curse!”
“A curse!” Leona exclaimed.
“I would not have thought of telling you about it before,” he answered, “because it might have upset you, but every Duke of Ardness has been cursed for the last two hundred years!”
“But why?” Leona enquired, “and by whom?”
Lord Strathcairn took a sip of port before he began,
“Some men from Ross brought their ship into harbour one night because the sea was so rough that they could proceed no further. They asked permission of the Chieftain to walk across Ardness land to their own County and return when the weather was more clement.”
Leona was listening wide-eyed as Lord Strathcairn continued,
“Permissio
