She was too busy, and too weary, to do much more than drag herself through her work the following day. She still felt too sick to eat, so in the scant twenty minutes she was allowed for her own dinner, she went out to the stables and demanded of an astonished groom that he fetch Murdo to speak with her.
Murdo, looking wary, appeared from one of the stalls where he had been grooming a horse.
'Janet?' he asked cautiously.
She controlled her impulse to scratch out his eyes, and tried to speak calmly.
'If you can somehow get the rent returned, I will not set the constable on you.'
'But how can I do that? They won't give it back to me.'
'Then you must find someone else to rent the rooms, who will give you the money,' she snapped. Why was he so helpless? How could she ever had had even the slightest liking for him?
'Who? How can I do that?'
Janet gritted her teeth. 'If you love me as you say, you'll manage it. But just in case, give me the address of where these rooms are. I will go and ask for the money back, and tell them why.'
'No, Janet, don't do that. I'll try, I really will.'
'The address. Tell me, and I'll give you two days to do something about it.'
It might still be possible for her to arrange a passage to Canada, she was thinking, if only she could get her money back. The thought did not excite her as much as it would have done a few days earlier.
Reluctantly Murdo gave her directions to one of the small, older houses close to the Cathedral.
'But please don't go,' he begged her. 'I'll try to get the money back, I promise.'
'Two days, starting this afternoon.'
She swung round and went back into the inn, her momentary burst of energy leaving her. By the evening she could have screamed with tiredness. The following day it was not much better, she felt faint with hunger but still could not eat more than a mouthful of bread. A night spent fretting about whether Murdo would be able to restore her money left her limp and miserable. Added to this was the indecision of whether she really did want to go to Canada and join Iain and his bride, possibly complicating their lives if they felt they had to welcome and look after her.
At dinner time, when she hoped Murdo would be there to return her money, she went out to the stables.
'Where's Murdo Mackay,' she asked.
'He left right after ye tore into 'im, never seen a grown man so badly shook up,' a grinning groom told her.
'Did he say where he was going?'
'Muttered somethin' about which devil was worst,' he said, and sniggered.
So he had deserted her. This had been at the back of her mind all along, contributing to her unease. Had he, finally understanding that she would never marry him, simply retrieved the money he'd stolen, taken it and departed? Or, being unable to do so, been unable to face her?
It was up to her to make the attempt. Not caring about her work she went straight to the address he'd given her and hammered on the door, which looked as though it needed a coat of paint. Had Murdo really expected her to be pleased at the thought of living here with him?
'Hold your horses! Don't knock the door down,' a woman's querulous voice said. It would not take much to do that, Janet thought in disgust.
A thin, almost scrawny woman, opened the door.
'Have you seen Murdo MacKay?' Janet asked brusquely. 'He used money he stole from me to pay you a year's rent, I understand.'
The woman frowned. 'That's as may be. It's none o' my business,'
'Has he been here?'
'Aye, this very morning, and I gave him the gold, less enough to compensate me for my trouble, of course,' she whined.
Janet wasn't sure if she could believe her, but there was no more she could do. If Murdo had left, the money was gone for ever. She knew now that she should have insisted on coming here with him, but she had been in such a state of fury she hadn't been thinking straight.
She thanked the woman and turned away. She could only return to the hotel and wait, wondering what had delayed him, and making frantic plans to search for him if he not appear.
Wearily she resumed her tasks, and the stairs seemed twice as steep, the trays much heavier, than before. By the time everything was done she was barely able to drag herself up the stairs, but she still had to take a can of hot water for a newly-arrived guest in one of the best front bedrooms.
'Well, you're a welcome sight for a weary traveller,' a young man said as she pushed open the door. 'I didn't expect to find a girl as pretty as you in this dull place. Come in, put that down, and let me have a good look at you.'
Janet glared at him as she walked over to the washstand. She could normally turn aside these pleasantries, the attempts by men on their own to flirt with her, but tonight she had not the patience.
'Your hot water, sir,' she said curtly.
'Oh come, don't be cross with me. I'm sure you'd like to earn a little more, for keeping me company. We could have such fun, and I'll warrant I could teach you a few new tricks.'
He had come up behind her, and Janet felt his hand resting on her hip. She gave him a fierce shove with her elbow, and as he staggered back, wincing, she raised the can and poured the hot water over his head, then for good measure threw the can to the floor and slapped him on the face as hard as she could, and stalked from the room.
He complained, of course, but not until the following morning, when he was departing. Janet was called to see the Manager.
'This is unsupportable behaviour,' he told her pompously.
Janet glared at him. This was too much, to be blamed for a guest's lewd suggestions. 'I am employed to carry coals and trays and hot water, and make the beds, not sleep in them with guests who feel the need for the services of a common drab,' she snapped.
'You are employed to do your work,' he said, sniffing, 'which does not include being impertinent to guests, and, what is more, assaulting them. Besides, you were absent yesterday for an hour without explanation. You will take your belongings and leave at once.'
'I'd be happy to, when you have paid me the money I have so far earned,' Janet said, quietly furious.
'You have forfeited any money.'
'Then I shall go and stand outside your hotel and tell all your guests how you treat your staff.'
They haggled, but eventually Janet won her point and the Manager reluctantly handed over the few coins due to her. She looked at them ruefully. They would scarcely pay for the journey down to the docks, let alone across the Atlantic.
Buoyed up with her anger Janet stormed to her miserable room and packed her few belongings in a shawl, then marched out of the front doors of the hotel, ignoring the sneer on the porter's face. He clearly knew why she was leaving. Only when she was outside did it occur to her that, should Murdo by some miracle return, he would not now be able to find her.
She looked round, dazed, and her gaze caught a flash of bright green. It was a child, little more than a toddler, staggering out into the roadway, and beyond her was a coach, pulled by a team of powerful looking horses, bearing down relentlessly.
Flinging aside her bundle Janet swooped down on the child, grabbed her and flung her aside, but before she could scramble to safety herself she felt a vicious blow on the head and knew no more.
She came round lying on a bench inside the coffee room of the hotel, with Sophia's anxious face bent over her.
'Oh, thank God! We thought you'd never regain your senses. Janet, how do you feel?'
'Sophia? What - Why are you here? Oh! I remember, the little girl! Is she safe?' Janet shivered. She could see it all once more, the horses about to trample the child, but it was all so slow this time, she knew she'd be too afraid to do it again.
'Apart from a grazed arm when she fell after you'd thrown her to safety. Her nursemaid was hysterical, and we've sent her home. We, Alastair and I, were driving behind the coach and saw it happen. You were so brave! But you, poor Janet, how do you feel?'
Janet tried to sit up, and
winced. 'My head aches. Did one of the horses kick me?'
'No, fortunately the coachman managed to turn them enough to miss you, but one of the carriage wheels knocked you over, and you've been senseless for ages.'
'Don't exaggerate, my love,' a male voice intervened, and Janet turned her head and saw, standing slightly behind Sophia, a young man dressed in a travelling cloak with innumerable shoulder capes.
Sophia sighed. 'Well, it seemed like hours! Long enough for Hugo to carry you in here. Janet, this is Hugo Buchanan, my fiancé. He arrived here in the coach. We came to meet him, that's why I am here and saw it all. You were incredibly brave!'
Janet wondered if she was still senseless. 'Your fiancé? But I thought, Alastair - '
'His brother? Oh, that was a long time ago! I was betrothed to James when I was a child. Hugo is Margaret's cousin, and we're to be married soon from her house, and we'll live here in Glasgow.'
'Are you well enough to move?' Hugo asked. 'Alastair has gone to order a carriage to take you back to Margaret's house. Sophia and I have to go to see some old friends, and we are already late.'
'I'm sorry,' Janet began, and Sophia, chiding Hugo for his insensitivity, tried to explain at the same time that they were not late at all.
'Run away and leave her to me.'
Janet sat up, ignoring the waves of dizziness which swept over her. 'Alastair?'
'Sit still. I've sent someone for a tisane which will help, and then I'll drive you home.'
He sat beside her and put his arm round her shoulders. She relaxed against him.
'My clothes, I dropped them.'
'Don't worry, they're here. But why were you leaving? Surely you haven't arranged a passage so soon?'
'I don't have the money,' she told him tiredly, then blinked. He was holding out to her the purse of gold coins she'd last seen when she packed it in Strathnaver.
'Yes, you do.'
'You?' she said stupidly. 'But Murdo? He'd spent it.'
'I know. The wretched man came to me and confessed, when the landlady refused to refund him the rent. He was too cowardly to come back and tell you. I went back with him and, shall we say, persuaded her that it would be rather unfortunate for her if the constables heard about it.'
'Would it?' Janet asked. 'She took it in good faith, even though she was an unpleasant harridan.'
'She believed me enough to repay it. Now, if you still wish it, you can book your passage. But I suggest you wait for the next boat.'
'Why?'
'Murdo decided that, if all hope of you had gone, which he seemed to think was the case, he'd rather take my offer to pay his passage and go to Canada. I think he is a little afraid of you,' he added, chuckling. 'He's on the boat which sails tomorrow. I doubt you'd wish to sail with him.'
She certainly would not, it would be highly embarrassing for them both. Janet began to laugh, and then held her head. 'Oh dear, it aches so!'
At that moment an anxious looking Manager appeared, carrying a small tray on which was a glass filled with a cloudy liquid. He glanced cautiously at Alastair and offered the glass to Janet.
'This will help, Miss,' he said ingratiatingly. His pomposity had totally disappeared. Alastair seemed to have the ability either to charm or terrify people into doing what he wished.
She drank the tisane slowly, and smiled at the Manager reassuringly. She had behaved badly, whatever the provocation, and he'd been well within his rights to dismiss her. Had Alastair heard about her dismissal, and had he threatened this man too? Would she be able to get her job back?
Then she berated herself for a fool. She didn't need the job, she had money enough now, thanks to Alastair, to go to Canada. But suddenly she didn't want to go.
'Can you walk?' Alastair asked, and Janet nodded slowly, relieved to find that her head was pounding less violently already.
'I think so,' she said, and stood up, swaying a little and clinging to his arm.
Slowly they walked outside, and Alastair lifted her into a closed carriage which was waiting for them. Leaping in after her, he sat down and held her tightly, protecting her from any jolting as the carriage moved off, and soon she was back in her familiar room at the MacBeiths' house.
She slept deeply for the first time in several days, and woke refreshed, her aching head cleared, to see the sun high in the sky, a brilliant blue sky with no clouds in sight. Jeannie peeped in soon afterwards and asked if she wanted breakfast, and Janet found that she was ravenous.
'Then Mr Alastair wants to see you, about the ship, I think,' Jeannie said as she backed out of the room.
To help her arrange a passage, no doubt, Janet thought, and wished she knew her own mind. Did she want to go or not? If she did not go, what would she do? She certainly would not become a chambermaid again, but she was too confused to think of other possibilities.
After a hearty breakfast she let Jeannie dress her in the grey silk gown Margaret had lent her before, and brush her hair gently, arranging it in a simple style, tied back by a ribbon. When she was ready she went as Jeannie told her to Margaret's boudoir. She must thank her for her hospitality as soon as possible.
It was Alastair, however, who awaited her, looking more handsome than ever in pale grey pantaloons and a darker grey coat. He smiled and came towards her to take her hand and draw her to sit on a chair beside the window.
'How do you feel?'
'Much better, thank you,' she said, and wondered why her voice quavered.
'Well enough to discuss what we do now?'
'Yes,' she said, her heart sinking. He was doubtless anxious to send her on her way. Maybe he had even found another ship ready to sail.
Suddenly she knew that she did not wish to leave Scotland, not even to rejoin Iain. Or rather, she amended, she wanted to be near Alastair, whether that was in Scotland or England. The very thought of saying farewell, of never seeing him again, was torture. She hadn't the slightest idea, though, of how this was to be achieved.
'You have the choice,' he said, and his voice sounded odd. He stood up and began to pace the small room, turning impatiently every few steps when he was impeded by the furniture. 'You can afford to go to Canada, or you can accept my offer of looking after you. I believe,' he went on, smiling slightly, 'that your reluctance previously was partly because you thought I would be marrying Sophia. As you can see, that is not so. Her betrothal to my brother was an arranged match, and she felt free, this time, to wed someone she loved. Not that I would ever have asked her, for delightful though she is, I don't love her, nor she me. And I have this odd notion of not wanting to marry when I cannot love too.'
Janet had nothing to say. A crazy, wild seed of hope lay somewhere in the region of her heart, which was beating erratically. She'd not known it before, or not been willing to admit it to herself, because it seemed hopeless, but now she knew with utter certainty that she loved Alastair. It was a strange feeling, not at all like the love she'd had for Mary, it was somehow wilder and warmer. Then she came down to earth. She was misunderstanding him. She must be.
'Well?' he asked. 'Will you marry me, Janet?'
'It's not possible, I'm not your sort of girl, I'm poor, you found me in a Highland croft.'
Suddenly he was kneeling in front of her, and had captured her hands in his. 'Janet, my love, you have a purse of gold, I have seen it for myself. You are rich enough to buy some silk gowns. But I'd take you without them, and I mean to give you many more. Sweetheart, I loved you from the moment I saw you on that hillside. You can't believe I go round kissing every pretty girl I meet, surely?'
He was laughing, his head on a level with hers, and as he bent towards her, his lips coming nearer, agonisingly slowly, Janet began to believe that he meant what he said. Tentatively she raised her arms, and as he clasped her to him she flung them round his neck, laughing herself.
'Oh, Alastair, I love you too! I didn't know, but it has always been so much better when you were with me, and I don't want to go to Canada, I want to marry you!'
She was breathless from his kisses, incoherent with happiness, wanting only to be with him, to have him kiss and caress her as he was doing for the rest of her life.
'We'll marry here as soon as we can, and then I'll take you home. Will you mind living in England? We can come back as often as you like.'
'I don't mind where I am if I'm with you.'
Much later Margaret peeped into the room, then backed out hastily, pushing Sophia aside. They smiled at one another and tiptoed away.
###
THE END
Marina Oliver has written over 60 novels, and has converted most of them to ebooks. Others have been or are being published as ebooks by other publishers.
For the latest information please see Marina's web site:
http://www.marina-oliver.net.
Two longer stories about the Highland Clearances:
TO A FAR COUNTRY.
By Marina Oliver
When the Marquess of Stafford wants to clear his land of crofters to make way for sheep, Jamie and Flora Lennox, with their baby daughter, decide to go to Nova Scotia to start a new life.
As tacksman, Jamie feels responsible for the people of his glen, and helps those who wish to go to Glasgow, either to seek work there or emigrate.
The leaving of the glen is heart-rending, and soon more disasters strike.
Can they survive in this new, raw land? Will they find happiness in their new lives?
*
WILD CATRIONA.
By Marina Oliver
Catriona's father is lost at sea, and her mother loses the will to live, leaving her with her Uncle, who wants to marry her to a much older, stern newcomer.
Cat is determined to escape, and does so with the help of her cousin. But she needs to hide from them all, until she can go to her father's Dutch family in Amsterdam.
Expert in fabric printing and making her own dyes, she persuades Rory Napier, struggling to manage his uncle's linen manufacturing in Glasgow, to employ her to supervise the new processes.
Blazing Glen Page 8
