Margaret Scott would tell you. with emphasis, that her one-armed husband was as good as a magnet for trouble, though David would deny it of course.
And his friend and confederate, Archie Butler was not exactly a cooing dove, either - how could he be with an Irish father and a Perthshire Drummond for a mother. Also, the political scene in Scotland today, though colourful, is hardly serene, limpid and untroubled.
Combine these three elements, and add the vast and challenging person of Kelly Coll O'Casey, and you have as explosive a mixture as ever shattered the uneasy peace of Border Scotland.
Grace Bellenden, newly returned from that oasis of tranquility, the U.S.A., though scarcely of the soberest, was caught up in conflagration, and lost more than her peace.