After passing the church, trees and an adjoining dense forest lined the path and on the right, fenced
meadows, on which there were large flocks of sheep. His uncle had continued the family's long established sheep and highland cattle breeding and had profitably enlarged it during his short tenure. Robert would have to make some adjustments. Sheep and cattle were not exactly what he was a master at. He was a horse breeder and planned to expand the small but fine breeding operation that his uncle started. There would be a lot of work ahead of him, but he had not come here to laze around.
As the carriage slowed down, Robert turned his attention back outside. They were driving down an avenue lined with old oak trees. The gravel crunched under their wheels. Behind the oaks lined large lawns with beautifully blooming rose beds and rhododendron bushes along the path. Small and large flowerbeds, as well as meticulously maintained hedges, let the large area shine as a magnificent garden. In the air hung the scent of blooming flowers and shrubs and freshly cut grass.
At the end of the long driveway, the road opened up and revealed a view of a large, stately, two story
Renaissance style castle. Small turrets and battlements lined the right and left of the black roof. The white facade shone in the sun and almost dazzled the arrival of the visitor. In the long time of his absence, nothing seemed to have changed. The last time he had been here, his grandparents were still alive and he had been a little boy.
He had romped through the many rooms. With his little pony in the garden, he jumped over small obstacles and in the morning with his grandfather inspected the stables of the property.
Now his grandfather was long gone and his son had already been buried, and he was now the new owner. The carriage drove around a beautiful flowerbed and then stopped directly in front of the staircase that led up to the house. Immediately a boy rushed up to him and opened the latch of the door. A small step was lowered, which would make it easier for the arriving guest to get out of the car. Robert rose and got out. The boy bowed deeply and let Robert go ahead. When he put his first foot on the bottom step, a number of servants rushed out from above and lined up in a row. A middle-aged gentleman dressed in a black
tailcoat, came up to him. He bowed too and welcomed him.
"Welcome to Shepherds King, Your Lordship. I am Albert Gaines, the butler of your late uncle. Please forgive us that we were not prepared, but we did not know the exact date of your arrival. May I briefly introduce you to your household?"
With those words he pointed to the servants, who now all bowed. Robert continued up the stairs until he stood before Albert.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all, but I think I should get my luggage first, so that the coachman can set off on his way home."
"Oh, that will be taken care of, by William, your Page."
Albert gave the boy , who was already standing in front of the carriage with Robert's bag in his hand a sign, and was about to turn back to the new lord, when he saw the uncertain look of the boy.
"Is there a problem, William?"
Somewhat disconcerted, the boy replied, "That's the only luggage, sir."
Astonished, Albert looked over at Robert, who just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I had to travel light and I hope to replenish my wardrobe here."
"Oh, but of course. We have an excellent tailor in the village and I'll let him know right away that he must come to take your measurements. William, why don't you please take the bag up to the bedchamber. May I introduce now the others of your household, Lord MacIntyre?“
"Of course."
Besides Albert, the butler and William his pageboy, Robert was introduced to the housekeeper
Harried. She had several maids under her control and if it did not deceive him, was the wife of Albert. Also, he met the Chef, Gwyneth, who, with her industrious ladies, was from now on responsible for his welfare. Gwyneth with her somewhat large figure was the absolute image of a good cook. She tasted for herself what she cooked.
The performance was rounded off by Charlie Wethers, the gardeners' superintendent, and finally his young administrator with the euphonious name of Samuel Summerton. Where Samuel had gotten the absolutely not Scottish first name , Robert didn‘t care.
With his bright brown eyes and his pitch-black hair he corresponded to the typical appearance of the Highlanders and was therefore immediately sympathetic to him.
Two weeks later, Robert had settled in quite well. Due to the abundance of tasks, his daily routine was
tightly organized. Unlike his uncle, Robert was not willing to just hide behind his desk and leave the work to his employees. Every morning at daybreak, he went to the stables and took a first ride out to the sheep and cattle to see that everything was in order. He enjoyed the ride in the early morning hours, over the meadows and fields, which were often covered with morning dew.
Here he could greet the new day and let his thoughts run their course in silence. He felt at home with nature. Since he had gone to America with his parents, he had helped his father to raise a horse farm in the vastness of the West. For twelve hard and difficult years they dealt with the forces of nature and the Indians. They had achieved great success and had to cope with many setbacks. But now his parents' ranch had grown to be the largest in the area and the breeding was producing good yields. Those formative years which were filled with hard physical labor, had made him who he was now.
His parents had taught him that a person's origin did not matter, and so he had grown up with the children of the cowboys. Had grown up breaking horses and learning to become a good rancher. He had never thought anything of his lordly birth. In Wyoming, where his home was, none of that counted.
Robert rode the gray Arabian stallion, which he had chosen today, at a sharp gallop across the fields until the outlines of the castle were visible. At the stables Samuel was already approaching him.
The young man, who was the same age as himself, had helped him in the last few weeks to quickly find his way around. Together they had gone through the stock of sheep and cattle and Samuel had shown Robert the small, but nevertheless very fine breeding of Arabians and English Thoroughbreds, which his uncle had acquired in the last two years before his death. That's what Robert wanted to focus on. There was a lot to be done, but with the competent help of Samuel, they could build something here and he was looking forward to that.
"How did you like Majestic, sir?"
Samuel held the snorting stallion by the halter with one hand as Robert dismounted him.
"Very well. He's fast, but every now and then his temper gets the better of him. That needs some correction. The horses haven't been moved much, have they?"
"Well, your uncle was not a very good rider and preferred the carriage and I did not have enough time to take care of the training of the horses in addition to all the other duties."
"We will change that from now on. I will think about how we can redistribute the workload. My uncle started this breeding and it would be a pity not to pursue it further. Come to my office tonight after dinner and we'll talk about it."
"As you wish, sir."
Robert raised his index finger and with a smile on his face, he threatened Samuel with it.
"How many times have I told you to call me Robert, after all we have worked together?"
"Excuse me sir, I mean Robert. It's - I've never called my master by his first name."
"I am not your master. I want us to work together and you to disagree with me when my proposals, in your opinion, are not feasible. If necessary, you should give me your opinion and advice. I would like to have a working relationship between two men on an equal footing. It would be nice if we could make that work."
Samuel looked at him in surprise, but then his eyes lit up and he nodded his head.
"Fine, now that we've settled the basics. I'll see you in my office tonight at 7:30 pm to discuss the details.“
Robert was about to turn away to leave when he remembere
d something else.
"Rub Majestic down good and give him some more oats. He's earned it today."
"Yes - Robert.“
With these words he looked at the young lord until he had disappeared from his view. Samuel did not quite know what to make of the past conversation. Did the young lord really mean it when he said he wanted to be treated by him like one of his own kind?
There had been much talk in the days after his arrival among the servants. Everyone who had seen the young lord, reported the same thing. Robert MacIntyre did not behave at all like a Scottish lord should behave.
He wore clothes that emphasized his status and his manners were impeccable, but he by no means, kept the proper distance that the nobility kept to their servants in Europe. And so there were always reports of where the young lord had crossed the invisible boundary.
The gardener had to report that the lord had talked to him for half an hour about his family and had actually inquired about his well-being. The cook could report having caught him in the kitchen, making himself a sandwich. When reminded that all he had to do was say something to Albert, he had replied that he would not make use of him for such a trifling matters. Such and similar stories had made the rounds in the first few weeks, and if he had not seen him one morning mucking out the stable, he would have dismissed these stories as fantasies.
One thing could be said with certainty, the new Lord of Shepherds King was different from all the
previous Scottish aristocrats , and he didn't know whether that was good or bad.
For his part, he liked Robert very much, as he was now silently practicing to say, so that he would not be angry with him tonight.
"We'll see how it goes from here, won't we Majestic?"
With that, he turned his attention to the stallion in his hand and almost had to laugh when the horse nodded his head and whinnied.
"Well, come on then, I want to rub you down and have breakfast."
Chapter 2
Midnight had passed and everyone was in bed, except Robert.
He had been tossing and turning in bed for hours and couldn't find any peace tonight. The bright moonlight penetrated through the heavy curtains into his room.
Annoyed, he went over to the window and glanced outside. Full moon, he thought sullenly. Every month the same. He had been susceptible to it since he was a child. When the moon was round in the sky, he could not sleep.
On those nights, he had only two options. Either he went back to bed and would continue to toss and turn from side to side for the rest of the night, or he got up and passed the time with something else, until his eyes would eventually fall shut. Tonight Robert decided to do neither of these possibilities. He got dressed and quietly slipped out of the house, so that he would not wake anyone.
The cool night air did him good and he decided to take a little walk. In the past weeks, he had been living here on the property, he had not been able to take a look from the cliffs to the sea. He knew that this part of his land extended to a bay, which could be reached by a narrow path. Since he could not think of anything better, he strolled off in that direction. The bright moonlight illuminated his way and so he reached the cliffs with the bay below. The path ran further parallel to his fields and led directly to his nearest neighbors, the Fergussons.
He had not yet had the opportunity to visit his neighbors, but immediately put it mentally on his to-do list. Indecisively, he stood there and listened to the steady sound of the waves crashing against the beach below him. Deeply he drew in the spicy air into his lungs. It was a beautiful piece of land which he owned here. Meanwhile dark clouds had appeared in the sky, obscuring the bright moon. It was time to go home before it started to rain. He was about to turn back, when he suddenly jerked up. What had that been? Had he not just seen a flickering on the sea? His eyes must have played a trick on him because no matter how hard he tried to see something in the distance, the sea remained black under him.
Suddenly, words reached his ear. Nervously he looked around to see if anyone came along the path, but there was nothing to see and the voices did not come closer.
Cautiously he lay down on the ground and pushed his body to the edge of the cliff to peer over the edge down into the darkness.
"Shawn, give the captain the signal, so we can get started. We don't want to spend all night."
Robert watched as a small Lantern was swung twice. A short time later, another light flashed in the distance, on the water. What were these men doing down there and who were they? Curious, Robert remained on his belly and tried to see what was going on.
He did not have to wait long, because from below, words came up to him again. Apparently the men lulled themselves into safety, because they did not behave exactly quietly. Robert had no trouble listening to the conversations.
"Here they come. Is everything ready?"
"Yes, the others should be here any moment. The captain is punctual this time, so it should go faster."
When Robert heard these words, he was able to jump up just in time to safely hide behind a bush, as he heard footsteps on the path and saw six men coming along. He kept absolutely quiet until he could be sure that no one was following and that the men had arrived at the cove. Quickly he crawled back to the place, which he had occupied before and could see two small boats, which were illuminated with torches. Two sailors brought them to the shore. Immediately the eight men sur-rounded the boats and began to unload them. Unfortunately, Robert couldn‘t see what the load was and it was too risky to change his position. Minutes later he observed how the two boats were pushed back into the water and shortly thereafter disappeared into the darkness. For a while he waited to see if more boats were coming, but it seemed to remain with the two down in the bay. The men were busily distributing the goods among themselves.
"Come on, come on men, hurry up. The cart will already be up there waiting."
"It's a miserable trek to get there. Isn't there any other solution?"
"Don't be a mule, the boss will reward you generously for this."
"Generous! Don't make me laugh! The few shillings aren't enough front and back."
"Now stop it and get on your way. The boss won't like it at all if we're late. And it would be better if you didn't show your displeasure to him, because he can get quite mean."
Robert noticed how the men on the beach moved away and seconds later a dancing light struggled up the cliff. In a moment they would pass his place and he needed a better place to hide. He crawled behind a dense bush, which protected him well from the upcoming light. The men, now lighting the way with the laterns, passed his hiding place not far from him. The danger to be discovered was great. Silently Robert crouched in the bush and could observe how the men went along the path, loaded with two barrels each on their backs.
He gave them enough of a head start so that they would not discover him, and then followed the group.
The sky was now completely closed and the initially bright night surrounded him with a deep blackness. What would Robert have given now to have the moonbeams light his way. At first he had seen in the distance still the dancing light of the lamps and had been able to orientate himself on the narrow path.
But in the darkness he could not get ahead so fast in the unknown terrain, as he wanted and so the light
suddenly disappeared. He stopped. Below him he heard the thunderous roar of the waves as they crashed against the rocks , and it reminded him that he was in mortal danger here. He did not know the way and did not know how close he was to the edge of the cliff. The sea sounded very close and a misstep in the darkness could have meant his death. Nothing helped, he had to break off the pursuit.
He would look at the whole thing again in daylight. Perhaps he could discover something that would bring the solution to the riddle. Disappointed the mystery of this night could not be solved, he turned around and went back inland.
"Too late!
If there were any tracks here the s
torm of the last few days has washed them away“, Robert grumbled to himself when he searched the beach three days later in the early morning.
In the early morning hours of the same day, a heavy rain had started, which turned into a storm that lasted two days and the hope of finding clues had simply blown away. With the rain, the temperatures had dropped and the storm had torn off many branches from the trees. Still a strong cold wind was blowing and the sea churned up. The high waves hit the sand hard and washed away half the beach. It had not been exactly harmless to climb down the path here in this weather, but it had given Robert no peace. He had to get to the bottom of it and now he was deeply disappointed that he had found no clues. While on his way home again without having achieved anything he thought about what had happened.
It had been a full moon. What if the men came here only on these nights? He took it upon himself to lie in wait at the next full moon, because he was pretty sure that they would come again. It was only a question of when and until then he would memorize and explore this way at the cliffs exactly, so that he could walk it the next time in the darkness.
In the early hours of the morning a figure rushed through the dark alleys of the small village.
Always anxious to save himself at any moment into one of the dark house entrances, in case another
person should come across at this nightly hour. But no matter how often he stopped and listened, everything remained silent and only his own rushed breath was to be heard. Quickly he hurried on and turned around the next corner of the house, hurried down the alley and ran to the large oak tree that stood at the entrance to the village.
When Love grows doubt Page 2
