Young Malcolm MacPhail has already had his audience in the hall of the richly clad widow -- mother of the mad laird, Stephen Stewart. Malcolm has gained the laird's trust -- and with all the honesty of his heart he will do nothing against the poor man, even if it means pitting himself against the plans of the laird's wealthy mother. So strongly set is Malcolm's conscience it threatens to put him on bad terms, too, with the Marquis, with whom he has found shelter and employment. Yet Malcolm knows the ways of his own heart -- and he knows the mad laird is not the idiot the rest of the world believes him to be