#19thcscottish

“Here, ye read it, ye wasted enough time learnin’ t’ read,” she grumbled. Sofia took a deep breath, biting back a reminder that she was taught to read by the same man her mother had refused, but now was not the time. Her eyes raced down the page, stopping at the laird’s seal at the bottom. “Well, what’s it say?”

“We must quit by the end of May term,” Sofia whispered, counting the days left in…

Somewhere Like Home: An Unhappy Event

“I don’t want to be tacksman.” Robert enunciated every word, his voice rising. “I don’t want your job, bowing obsequiously to the stinking laird and his despicable sons. I won’t do it.”

“Ye will.” Lytton’s voice, steel-edged.

“I won’t. Don’t you see, Da? Soon there won’t be any tacksmen. Year by year, they’re being replaced by factors—and sheep.”

“They’ll no replace all by sheep. Who would they…