Shy and unassuming, Alisdar Garrett, the last of the Ulster MacDonnells, was something of a disappointment to the gossips of Carrickfergus who remembered the heady days of Old Carrach and his string of tempestuous mistresses. Indeed Alisdar threatened to extinguish the family line altogether after Sara, the blacksmith s desirable daughter, broke his heart, and he ran away from home, determined to die a hero s death in the Spanish Civil War.