For as long as Caleb Carson could remember, his elder brother had been close at hand. They were orphans, living with strangers, sharing a bedchamber and spending most of their free time together. Then on Caleb's nineteenth birthday, Uriah announced the two of them would begin life anew in a small village in the north. Caleb was delighted. But when Uriah returned to his position in London, the hours of their first separation seemed endless. At last, the day of his return had arrived and Caleb went to the small village, tended his marketing and waited by the cobbler shop. By sunset, the brothers were reunited and rode side-by-side back to the Twyman place -- the first real home Caleb could remember.

"I have been away nearly a fortnight and you have nothing to report save your lack of employment?" Uriah asked, allowing his horse a leisurely gait.

Seated on his dapple-gray, Caleb grinned, "Shall I tell you of Sweet Katie?"

"Please do."

"She has red hair and the greenest eyes I have yet to see."

"You fancy her then?"

"Fancy her? She's fifty if she's a day. But were she younger, I would fancy her greatly. She claims a right acquaintance with Bonny Prince Charlie."

Uriah chuckled, "Does she now?"

"That she does. Today, the Redcoats got it from someone, who got it from someone else, that the Prince had been spotted in the south of Scotland. The Redcoats left MacDougal's Inn with great haste and soon after, all the people on the avenue stopped to wait. They waited, you see, for Sweet Katie to come to the door."