“He was grieving. Sometimes pain can make a man do stupid things. If he’d talked to me about Daniel, I would have known how much he blamed me, but he rarely mentioned him.”
Could she have been as understanding, or as empathetic? Probably not, because Jacobs had almost succeeded in his undertaking—to kill Marshall.
“Garrow should be punished for giving the order to send Marshall to an asylum,” Davina said.
“I think his fate is decided,” Marshall said. “The Chinese will see to it that Garrow is punished for his crimes.”
“How can you say that? You were their prisoner; you know what they’ll do to him.”
He looked away, staring off into the distance as if to see the past. “I do,” he finally said. “But I also know that when a man chooses an action, he chooses the result as well.”
“Spoken like a true diplomat,” Theresa said, smiling. “And a wise man.”
“I doubt Garrow chose to be surrendered to the Chinese,” Davina said. “I doubt he saw that far ahead.”
“Then who should be blamed?” Theresa asked. “The British for believing that slavery is abhorrent? Or Garrow for being too narrow-minded to see the consequences of his actions?”
“Garrow,” Davina said. “For selling people as if they were vases and boxes.” She sighed. “But we are a family, aren’t we? I’ve a reputation for shocking behavior. Marshall is mad, and Garrow is the worst of us all.”
“You don’t include me,” Theresa said.
Davina eyed her aunt with some amusement. “I think, perhaps, you are the most surprising. You tell a lovely tale about how Garrow was caught, but I think there is more to the story than we’ll ever know.”
Theresa only smiled.
Author’s Notes
The Earl of Lorne’s adventures in China were mirrored after real historical events in which representatives of the Crown were imprisoned, tortured, and killed. The remaining prisoners were freed only after the Summer Palace in Peking was burned to the ground.
Opium is highly addictive, inducing passivity in the smoker. Heavy smokers have an average life expectancy of five years from the time they become addicted. It is estimated that there were almost forty million opium addicts in China by 1880.
Many Chinese herbs have hallucinogenic properties—among them Yang Jin Hua, Nao Yang Hua, Gan Di Huang, and Hong Hua. What Julianna Ross took for pain, and what made Marshall so ill, was probably corydalis, which has both analgesic qualities and can produce hallucinations.
In the nineteenth century a flourishing trade known as the Coolie Trade existed that was tantamount to slavery. Chinese peasants were kidnapped and sold for the sex trade. Or they were offered a five-year indenture, during which they were overworked and treated abysmally.
In Egypt an experienced scribe often wrote down instructions on life for the younger scribes. However, Hamenup was my invention, as well as his poetry.
In nineteenth-century Scotland, an emergency certificate could be issued by one doctor to keep a mental patient under observation for three days. After that time, a certificate signed by two physicians was required. Private asylums were created to treat patients who could not—or weren’t wished to be—cared for at home. Brannock Castle is modeled after one such private asylum.
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By Karen Ranney
THE DEVIL WEARS TARTAN
THE SCOTTISH COMPANION
AUTUMN IN SCOTLAND
AN UNLIKELY GOVERNESS
TILL NEXT WE MEET
SO IN LOVE
TO LOVE A SCOTTISH LORD
THE IRRESISTIBLE MACRAE
WHEN THE LAIRD RETURNS
ONE MAN’S LOVE
AFTER THE KISS
MY TRUE LOVE
MY BELOVED
UPON A WICKED TIME
MY WICKED FANTASY
If You’ve Enjoyed This Book, Be Sure to Read These Other
AVON ROMANTIC TREASURES
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Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
THE DEVIL WEARS TARTAN. Copyright © 2008 by Karen Ranney. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub © Edition JULY 2008 ISBN: 9780061982705
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