Robert, on the other hand, found her company quite pleasant for he liked her reserved manner. It almost seemed to him that Moira was afraid of him and that made him curious. Something preoccupied the young lady. The whole evening she had not really looked happy. She had hardly eaten and had only talked when necessary. Even now, she was behaving so very differently from the other ladies in the hall, who were constantly trying to catch his attention.Moira seemed to him like a little wallflower,
although she really did not have to be. She was not very tall and reached only to his shoulder, but her petite figure had all the attributes that he appreciated in a woman. The crinoline dress, made of dark green silk, whose low neckline had been defused, but nevertheless revealed a glimpse of the base of her firm, small breasts. Her thin waist was tied with a black corsage ribbon and underlined her advantages. Matching in the same tone, she wore a long-sleeved jacket, which stopped below her breastline. Her hair, which he thought had to be a chestnut-brown tone, was stuck in an elaborate updo, and he found himself thinking about how she would look, when the long hair was pulled back around her narrow face blowing in the wind. In general, he had noticed her face right away the first time he saw her at the dinner. She had a beautiful oval face. Her green eyes with the long, thick, black eyelashes and the shapely eyebrows had magically attracted him. From then on, he had not let her out of his sight. Now that he was walking right next to her and her light perfume was in the air, thoughts came to his mind, about which he surprised himself and which he preferred to keep to himself, because he would scare Moira with them. A quick glance at her side profile and at her beautiful, full lips, which she had opened a little bit in thought, made him start to sweat. He had to distract himself somehow in order to keep his thoughts under control.
"Miss Fergusson, I am truly sorry that I was unable to receive you earlier."
Relieved that he had begun to speak and that she no longer had to think about how nervous his presence made her, she replied:
"That was quite understandable. I'm sure, you have a lot to take care of, and for that reason, I could not expect you to receive me without an appointment. I wouldn't have come then either if Eileen hadn't..."
"Eileen?"
"She's my friend and she helps me run the orphanage. She was the one anyway, who thought I should talk to you about the agreement that your uncle had made with me."
Robert stopped and turned to her.
"I had already made up my mind to go and see you after the holidays, but somehow something always got in the way. I would like to make up for it when we're back home the day after tomorrow.
There are a few questions regarding my uncle that I'm sure you can answer, since you undoubtedly knew him better than I did. What do you think - we'd better get back inside before someone misses us."
Elegantly he held out his right arm to her and grateful that he had thought of her call, she put her hand on it and let him lead her back to the house. When they reached the steps to the terrace she let go of him to lift her skirt a little. From the inside cheerful waltz music drifted out to them.
"I know that your dance card is probably already filled, but would you still allow me to dance with you?"
"I would love to do that, but I'm afraid I haven't mastered the steps of this newfangled dance yet."
Robert leaned down toward her a little, which made her breath faster.
"Between you and me, I don't even know it yet. But how hard might it be to memorize the steps of the others and to imitate them. Shall we give it a try?"
Laughing, she agreed, and Robert was overwhelmed by her charm. She should laugh more often and Robert secretly resolved to work on it.
On the dance floor, the couples spun in circles. Swinging and in a tight dance posture they whirled across the floor. The voluminous dresses of the ladies and the tailcoats of the men bobbed in time to the music. Robert had already heard that at the Austrian court a musician with the name Franz Joseph Strauss Son had created a cheerful couple dance and caused a sensation. He watched the couples and now could understand why the tight dance posture had at first been considered scandalous, but the lively music had been convincing, and thus at every ball today at least one piece of this master was played. Robert looked over at Moira, glanced at her expectantly and held out his arm to her.
„Shall we?“
Smiling, she took his arm and together they mingled with the other dancers. A bit tentative at first, they became more and more confident in their movements, until he was holding her close to him, at the same pace of the others and whirled her laughing across the dance floor. Moira was easy to lead and adapted to his movements automatically. He enjoyed it, to hold her in his arms, to look into her beaming eyes, while they were spinning in circles with a laugh. He hoped that the music would play forever. Moira had not had so much fun for a long time and that she owed it to Robert MacIntyre.
He had managed to put her worries behind her, even if only for a short time. How nice it would be if she could forget everything. If she could forget that she had to play an evil game with him. Satisfied that his plan was working, Sir Dumfrey watched the scene.
Chapter 6
Three days later, Robert rode his horse down the Fergusson's driveway. When he arrived in front of the burned-out ruin, he stopped. What might have caused such a fire that had left only the foundation walls. It must once have been a truly beautiful estate, but now the beds were overgrown with weeds and the bushes and hedges were overgrown. Suddenly he heard children's voices, and so he steered his horse in the direction from which he heard them.
In front of a small house, three boys were running around who immediately stopped playing and ran into the house when they saw the rider coming. Even before Robert had dismounted from his horse, a young lady, who was about the same age as Moira might have been, came running out. She was wearing a simple brown work dress, which had seen better days. But except for the somewhat old dress she was neatly coiffed and made a sympathetic impression as she now approached him in a friendly manner.
"Good day, sir. What can I do for you?"
"My name is Lord MacIntyre, and I would like to see Miss Fergusson . Is she in by any chance? I know I'm without an appointment, but perhaps she might have a moment for me?"
"Lord MacIntyre! Why, of course. Come in, please. I am sorry that we do not have a groom who can take care of your horse and and we can't offer you any other luxury but I am sure that we can offer a good cup of tea. If you would please follow me?"
With these words she turned and strode ahead into the house. Robert quickly tied his horse to a tree and
followed the young lady. Eileen seemed to be much more brisk than Moira. She had a pretty face with a light complexion and tiny freckles, and her reddish-blonde hair, which she wore in a long, braid down her back, gave him the impression that she had Irish blood in her.
In the house, he was led into the small reception room, which was homey but without any particular
luxury. The furniture was old and some upholstery showed small traces of wear. Robert wondered what it must have meant to a young lady who had grown up and been educated in luxury with the prospect of a good marriage, now to live in these poor conditions, without really having a rosy perspective for the future at all. Robert was sure that the old rules of society still prevailed here in Scotland.
No matter how wealthy you were born, if you had no more fortune, then you were excluded from society. Robert was jolted out of his thoughts when the door opened and Moira appeared in the doorway.
Friendly, but more reserved than she had been when she left the McCormicks, she approached him.
"Lord MacIntyre, this is a surprise to see you again so soon ."
She meant it sincerely, he could tell. She hadn't really expected to see him again after the ball.
"Miss Fergusson, I told you that I'd been planning to visit you for a long time. But if it is not convenient for you today, then I'll be glad to come back
some other time."
"No, no. Everything is fine. Please have a seat. Eileen will be right back with a cup of tea and some pastries."
Robert sat down on the same red velvet chair where Sir Dumfrey had sat only a short time ago and she was glad that this time it was much more pleasant company. When Eileen had served the tea and Moira had poured him a cup, she took a seat opposite him. She handed him the plate of pastries, and he took it gratefully.
"Lord MacIntyre, what can I do for you? I'm sure you've come to see the orphanage and I would like to show you around and give you a tour."
Robert chewed the rest of the delicious cookie and took a sip of the still too hot tea before he answered.
"The first thing I would appreciate is if you would just call me Robert. I am used to being called by my first name only, and stiff titles don't mean much to me."
Moira was taken aback by this statement. So far she had never met a nobleman who would voluntarily renounce the mention of his title. On the contrary, there was one or the other who pretended to be one without having the legitimate claim.
"May I ask you a question?"
"Yes, of course - Robert."
"I saw the ruins of the fire. Would you tell me how it happened?"
Moira wrestled with herself. She did not like to talk about that night back then, yet she began to tell him.
"I'm afraid I don't know any more details than that. It was the time when quite a few of the children here had fevers and I was here more days to take care of them than I was in my parents' house. On this unspeakable day, my parents had a visit from Sir Dumfrey for dinner. You saw him at the McCormicks's ball. I was there with him. I think he was a business associate of my father's, and he was there that night for dinner. Shortly afterwards, however, I excused myself because I wanted to spend the night with Eileen and the children. Then, in the middle of the night, we were struck by the smell of burning wood and the crackling of the fire. When I arrived at the house, everything was ablaze. The servants had been able to save themselves and were already trying to extinguish the fire, but it was too late for my parents. The flames had already eaten through to the roof truss."
She paused, because she had to fight back the rising tears. Robert felt the need to take her in his arms and comfort her. He assumed that probably no one had ever done this before.
The pain in her eyes was unmistakable. He was just about to apologize to her for having had started the subject when she continued.
"The next morning we found their bodies in the burned-out bedroom. Everything we had owned had been destroyed in one night. The little that could be saved is in this house here and since that night I have lived here with Eileen and the children. Eileen is the only one I have left. Since my father's money had also disappeared, I could no longer pay the employees and so it did not take long until one after the other looked for a new job and left."
"Your father's money disappeared? How did that happen?"
"The safe was empty. My father did not trust banks and therefore had everything in his safe. The safe survived the fire, but it was empty. The family jewelry as well as the cash assets, everything was gone. To this day I don't know what my father did with it."
"Is it possible that things might not have been above board?"
Moira looked at him in amazement.
"You think someone stole it? But only my parents and I knew the combination."
Robert was silent. What if someone had extorted the combination and had set the fire to cover up the crime? There had to be more than one source of fire that had ignited such an inferno. But for the time being he kept his suspicions to himself. He did not want to give Moira any more painful thoughts. Moira, on the other hand,continued in her narrative.
"Maybe I should have left then, too, but I just couldn't bring myself to abandon the children. You must know that my mother started this home and it would have been a betrayal to her if I had given this up."
Moira sighed.
"So I've been trying to save every shilling I can get my hands on, to keep a roof over the children's heads and give them an education, so they can have a future. Your uncle helped me with his donations, but
unfortunately he died much too early."
Robert leaned forward in his chair, put his hand on her arm and smiled encouragingly. He had made a decision.
"Moira, I'd like to help you. Maybe you can show me around so I can get an impression?"
"Yes of course, come on."
She led him through the house. He saw the small room with the chairs and tables that served as a
classroom, where Eileen was giving a mathematics lesson. The dormitory was provisionally divided with a curtain in the middle of the room, so that the boys and and girls were visually separated from each other when they slept. Moira must have felt she had to say something because she explained, "When I first moved in here after the fire and the main house was no longer in use, we had to make changes.
Eileen and I moved into the girls' room together and out of the boys' room we had to make the dining room because the kitchen was too small for all of us. I had actually planned to have an annex, but we don't have the money at the moment."
She didn't tell him that she would probably never have the money.
"You don't have your own room?"
"No."
Moira led him further through the house and everywhere Robert took a closer look, he saw
deficiencies that needed to be fixed. There was the water stain on the ceiling, because the roof was leaking, some windows lost their frames because they had become crumbly, doors were squeaking, the children's clothes were old and patched and even Moira wore a dress that was not worthy of her. It was far from the one she wore the evening at the McCormick's and yet she wore it with an elegance that seemed to him hardly possible.
Moira, on the other hand, seemed embarrassed that he saw her like this, for when she thought she was unobserved, she fiddled with her blue work dress. When they got outside and she led him in the direction of the ruins, a question burned on his lips.
"Was your father a horse breeder or was he well versed in horses?"
"My father could ride well, but we did not have more than a few work and riding horses. Would you like to see the stables? They're right over there."
"Mmm. I saw some pastures on the way here.
I'm assuming that this is your land. What did your father keep there?"
"We had sheep, but after I didn't have any money to pay the employees, I could no longer manage the work alone and had to sell the flocks. Since then the land has lain fallow. For a long time I resisted selling the land and Sir Dumfrey had already made me an offer, which I
rejected at the time, but I believe that soon I will have no other choice."
Slowly they strolled on over her land. It was not a large estate, but it had two good pastures right by the bay abutting his land, so he was considering whether he should make her an offer to sell them, but he kept silent. Some things made him wonder. Why had her father been a partner with his uncle, when he knew as little about horse breeding as his uncle did? And what does Sir Dumfrey want with the two pastures at the bay when he owned no other land far and wide? Many things did not make sense. When they had finished the tour and had come back to his horse, Robert inwardly tipped his hat to Moira.
The estate was in a neglected condition and the small house was also in desperate need of some repairs, but considering the situation, she had tried to make the best of it. She had a great burden on her slender shoulders and was almost in danger of breaking. Her will and ambition to breathe new life into the estate was remarkable, but without money and help she would not manage to.
"Well, Robert. Maybe you can imagine what it once looked like here. The roses were in bloom and the hedges were neatly trimmed.
The main house was whitewashed and in the summer my parents had several parties here and the guests would stroll across the lawn. Your uncle was
also a welcome guest here and my father was very good friends with him."
"Yeah, I've heard that before. Maybe you can tell me about it on my next visit, when I can come by again. I would like to know more about him. I only knew him until I was ten years old, and I don't remember him very well."
"Yes, I would like that very much."
Robert said goodbye to her, kissed her hand elegantly, then mounted his horse, nodded to her once more in farewell and gave his horse the spurs. Moira looked after him for a long time.
She was still standing there when he could no longer be seen. In her mind she had put the back of her hand, that he had kissed, to her mouth and it went through her head, how it would probably feel if his lips had touched her mouth. Robert did not ride home right away, but steered his horse in the direction of the village. He could, of course, let Albert do the things he wanted to do, but in this case he felt the need to do it himself and so he rode directly to the clothier.
Chapter 7
"Eileen! Eileen!"
Eileen poked her head out of the classroom when she heard Moira's excited voice in the hallway.
"Yes, what is it?"
"What's that hammering about on the roof?"
Eileen called out to the children that she would be with them in a moment and then closed the door behind her. Beaming with joy, she took Moira by the hand and pulled her excitedly to the front door.
"Come, you have to see this for yourself. Oh wait, first this."
She half pushed Moira in front of her into the reception room. Once there, Moira couldn't trust her eyes. The small sideboard and another table, were piled up with bales of fabrics in different colors.
When Love grows doubt Page 5
