James Grant's The Royal Regiment opens on a world of military pride, ancestral duty, and romantic longing, where the fate of a family can turn on a secret buried for generations. In "The Ruthvens of Ardgowrie," young Roland Ruthven returns from America to the old Scottish house in the Dee valley, summoned by news that his father, Patrick, is dying and haunted by some hidden wrong. At Ardgowrie, amid loyal servants, family memories, and ominous references to the fatal 5th of August, Roland learns that the laird's illness is bound up with guilt, inheritance, and a concealed deception. A locked Indian cabinet, a missing inscription, and a suppressed will point to the ruin of Uncle Philip and the burden of unfinished justice. As Patrick dies, Roland is left heir to a noble name shadowed by remorse, while his hopes for Aurelia Darnel de St. Eustache offer a fragile counterpoint of love. The later tales widen the book's range into harsh social drama and medical adventure: a young doctor's doomed love for Gertrude Chalcot ends in humiliation, poverty, and fever, followed by unexpected loyalty from Bob Asher; then, driven back to work, he is drawn into the grim world of anatomy and a secret graveyard expedition for a fresh body, where ambition and conscience collide. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.