For months, Thistle Muir had been almost unbearably silent. Night after night, Malcolm and Leah shared a quiet dinner before Malcolm would slip out to spend an hour walking with Aileen Mitchell, the miller’s bonnie daughter, along the River South Esk. Ethan was hundreds of miles away in England, reading Classics at Oxford, writing poetry, and exceeding the expectations of Uncle Leith’s lavish attention. The youngest Penn-Leith was a bright star on a shooting trajectory with success and fame. After mourning their father the requisite six months, Malcolm had married his Aileen on a blustery day
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