The people of Prince's Crossing called him the old maggot. Not just because he was despicably rich or sired the wild young men who tore up the roads with their galloping horses - it was because they could not pronounce the word magnate and said maggot instead. Somehow, it was more appropriate. Lady Bythewaite was the common-law wife of the old man. A devouring love filled her entire existence, but never affected the iron of her will and the implacable destiny that led from it. Only Clarence of the three sons could claim the Skegg name, and at the first opportunity he ran off to New York to change it. When he came back, it was with a new name, silent-movie fame, and a deadly vengeance to act out. Owen Hawkins was the "acknowledged" son, who lived with Lady Bythewaite. A delicate young man with a strange blue cast to his dark eyes, his world included each of his family in turn - with a devotion that was frightening. Aiken Cusworth was the bastard. A great hulking horse-tamer with the smell of the fields on him, he had the strength of ten and a single bent that yanked man and beast to the line of his terrible whim. Together, they lived in the house of the solitary maggot.