Xavier St. Cloud had a student. Morgan D'Estaing had been adopted into the D'Estaing family and had been raised thinking that, as the eldest son, he would inherit all the goodies. Unfortunately, the D'Estaings had a natural son and decided to bestow the family fortune upon him. Morgan took exception to the announcement, and tried to kill the other son in the middle of the night. Morgan died in the attempt and Xavier found him in the family chapel in a coffin.
Xavier helped Morgan take vengeance upon his adopted family, killing them all, and Morgan lived his life as a tribute to Xavier. Morgan developed the expensive tastes, and the ability to distinguish good (jewelry) from bad (jewelry).
In the present time, Duncan is hauled in to talk with the police about robberies going on that seem remarkably similar to those perpetrated by Xavier. Renee Delaney is trying to make a good impression on the police inspector, so really gets off on a bad foot with Duncan. Then she chases him out of the building to say yadda yadda yadda I didn't mean it yadda yadda yadda I'm getting married. Duncan receives the news of Renee's forthcoming nuptials with remarkable composure. He even gives her broad hints that the robber can't be Xavier 'cause Xavier is playing Captain Hook in the Formerly-Immortal Drama League's production of Peter Pan.
He figures out that it must be Morgan.
Morgan kills the police inspector with a poisoned bottle of wine, and Duncan keeps Renee from drinking from the same bottle. Morgan is arrested for the murder, but he kills himself in jail and gets free. Renee is having conniptions over her attraction to Duncan, not knowing whether to boink him and get it over with and deciding it's really the only way. She just embarrasses herself every which way it's possible for a woman to embarrass herself, but Duncan had really just taken her to her apartment to see her safe, and made an escape to confront Morgan on the rooftop.
Morgan cheats, of course, and uses poison on Duncan. Duncan manages to withstand the effects of the poison long enough to behead Morgan before succumbing to the poison himself. A very interesting Quickening of a Corpse. More bouncing than you might expect.
Renee says goodbye to Duncan and manages to push them both into the river, making a person wonder if she's *very* lucky at cards.
Questions:
1. Some folks say they rather like Renee because she reacts to Duncan MacLeod the way a real woman would react to Duncan MacLeod. Personally, I don't get it. If women generally reacted to Duncan MacLeod the way Renee Delaney reacted to Duncan MacLeod, he would have joined a monastery and stayed there, far from harm. Is it possible that Duncan's time spent at Father Paul's monastery was caused by Duncan's retreat from the supplications and constant demands for attention from horny women? Did he leave the monastery only when he felt rested and fit enough to take on the world of horny women again? Would Duncan have eventually exploded from internal forces if he had, indeed, taken a vow of chastity?
2. Morgan D'Estaing is a worthy successor to Xavier St. Cloud's mantle of expert in the arts of ruthless robbery, but we have to wonder about his taste in women. Was that lovely creature in the jewelry shop really someone upon whom he had lavished his personal attentions, or do we suppose he just picked her at random, promising jewelry and a chance at death? How many pieces of gum was she chewing, anyways?
3. It would have been wrong for Duncan to let Renee drink out of that poisoned bottle of wine, wouldn't it? Why?
4. Renee is another in the long line of police-type people who use and abuse Duncan MacLeod but refuse to listen to what he says with any degree of attention. What is it about Duncan MacLeod that makes cops so hostile? (Except Renee, of course, and she was just generally hormonal about the whole situation.)
5. Do we feel sorry for the whole D'Estaing family or do we feel they got their just deserts?