It was just before midnight when she arrived at the oak tree. No one seemed to be there yet and so she was startled when a voice behind her said:
" You're right on time, very good. I had already feared that you might have changed your mind."
"What do you want from me."
"Well, I understand you've been invited to dine with Lord MacIntyre the day after tomorrow."
"How do you know that?"
"You don't have to care about that. I don't want him to show up at the cove during the night and you will see to it that he doesn't."
"What's happening at the cove? What are you doing there?"
"It's none of your business, and it's better for your pretty nose if you stay out of it and only do what I tell you to do. You'll give him, before you leave the house that evening, this powder. Put this in his last drink,“Charles Dumfrey held out a small can to her.
Moira took it in her hand and opened it.
"What is this? Poison?"
"No," Dumfrey laughed maliciously.
"Such drastic means are hopefully not necessary if you do what I order you to do. It's a sleeping powder."
"No, I can't do that. This man has done nothing, and it is not lawful."
"And how you will do it. Think of what's at stake for you. The whorehouses in Edinburgh are far from the finest. So don't make a fuss. He'll just sleep through the night like a baby."
Reluctantly, Moira took the can and put it in the pocket of her skirt. She was about to turn to leave when Dumfrey grabbed her by the arm.
"Do not think that you can betray me, I have my spies everywhere and would know immediately if you did not solve the matter to my satisfaction. Do we understand each other?"
Moira nodded and hurried away as fast as she could.
Chapter 9
Robert felt an inner restlessness. The last two days he had been thinking a lot about Moira. Even during the nights he had dreamed of her. He had felt her hands on his body and imagined how it would be to kiss her. They had only known each other for a few days and yet she had left an impression on him that pleased and frightened him at the same time. He liked her - liked her a lot, in fact, and if he wasn't careful, he was well on the way to falling in love with her. Not that he minded that but until now he didn't know if she felt the same way.
He believed that she had enjoyed it when he had held her in his arms in the stable alley a few days ago, but it could also have been that he had imagined it as his own desires arose. In any case, she had accepted his invitation and would arrive in a few minutes. Like a little boy just before Christmas, he could hardly wait to hear the carriage in the driveway.
He took the black suit jacket off the hanger, put it on, and then went down the stairs into the vestibule. Just as he passed the last step he heard the carriage as it stopped on the gravel in front of the door. Albert, who at that moment had come out of the kitchen, opened the doors and was about to go to the carriage, when Robert went to help Moira out himself. When he opened the hutch of the carriage and folded out the footstep, he reached his hand inside the carriage and a gloved delicate hand seized it immediately. Then Moira's smile appeared. He took a step back and let her get out of the carriage. My God, she is beautiful, thought Robert, as he saw her in front of him. She was wearing an eggplant colored taffeta dress, with a black velvet blouse that was cut like a cadet's uniform.
Her hands were in black, short leather gloves and around her shoulders she was wearing a matching cloak to protect her from the chill of the night. Her hair had been styled into the same artful updo that she had worn at the ball. Robert was so fascinated by the sight, that he almost forgot his manners and remembered in time that he now greeted her with a formal kiss on the hand.
He looked her deeply in the eyes. Moira, on the other hand, felt hot and cold. Those blue eyes seemed to penetrate right into her deepest inner self. She had been feverishly thinking about what to wear tonight.
This ensemble was her favorite and it was the only passable dress that had survived the fire unscathed. Since then she had never had the opportunity to wear it again, and for tonight it seemed almost inappropriate; but Eileen had taken it out of the closet as a matter of course and said that it should be this and no other. Well, she didn't have a better one anyway. Only the green dress from Sir Dumfrey, but she never wanted to wear it again, because it reminded her of the pact with the devil she had made. The little can in her Skirt pocket weighed tons tonight. At least it seemed so to her. Robert, on the other hand, brought her such a radiant smile that she tried to forget her worries and and reservations.
The evening passed faster than she thought and Moira had to admit to herself that Robert fascinated her more and more every minute. They had been talking well all evening. Moira had told him about her childhood and laughingly they had realized that they had probably met here in their childhood days at one of his uncle's summer parties. Fascinated about the paths that fate often forged in life, they had laughed heartily about it and made jokes and Moira had realized that she had not felt so at ease in a long time. That evening she had come to the realization that Robert was by no means only the Scottish aristocrat that many saw in him. No, he was a man who seemed to have many facets. When they had finished their tasty dinner they made themselves comfortable with a liqueur and Moira had a question burning on her lips.
"Robert, now that you know everything about me , including the fact that at the tender age of ten, I had a small weakness for Ian Roames. Which I really never told anyone."
She looked at him smiling and this flash, which arose in her green eyes, seemed to drive him out of his mind. It was hard for him not to go over to her and take her in his arms to kiss her. Moira seemed to feel nothing of his arousal, for she went on and brought him back down to earth with her question.
"Why don't you tell me something about your life in America. That must have been very exciting and
thrilling. What is it like there? I've never traveled far. I can't imagine living far away from Scotland."
"I didn't choose it myself either. Neither of my parents came first in the line of succession and so one day they decided to seek their fortune on the other side of the Atlantic. I still remember the crossing as if it were yesterday, although it is now almost thirteen years ago. To save money, my parents had only bought third class tickets, so we ended up below deck in a kind of dormitory, which was full of people. I had only known those as stable boys or maids. I thought I was better than them, had a better education and had grown up on the sunny side of life. So it was not long before I got into a fight with a boy when I demanded that he sit somewhere else. This boy saw it quite differently and our discussion ended in a scuffle, where I got the short end, because the boy was much stronger than me and had probably already boxed in his lifetime more than I had done. My father caught me at that time by the collar
pulled me away, lectured me with the words: "What I would think of my person before God and that I should never again judge a person only by his origin." On top of that I got such a beating that I couldn't sit on the seat of my pants for two days. At that time, I was very mad at my father, but today I'm glad to have been taught that lesson, because he was right. I don't care about titles, they don't mean anything anyway. I have learned to judge people by their ability and not where they come from. It does me no good to own a lot of land if I don't know how to farm it."
Moira sipped her liquor.
"That's a wise view."
"No, that's the view you get when you work hard all your life. I've seen my father work together with my mother from sunrise to sundown to fulfill their dream of owning their own ranch and as best I could do, at my young age, was to help out. Today, they can proudly say that they have made it and I hope to be there again one day."
Astonished, she looked at him.
"You don't want to stay here forever?"
Robert leaned back thoughtfully.
"Honestly, I don't know yet. I hav
e come for my mother, who is the rightful heiress. She transferred
everything to me because she wanted to continue to stay in America. Whether I will stay forever, I cannot say today. It may be foolish, but some days I feel lonely and then I miss my family.
Moira could understand that well. She often felt lonely too, even though the house was full of children and Eileen.
"I know what it's like to feel alone. I miss my parents every day and the children and Eileen are there, but they are not a substitute."
"Yeah that's exactly how it is.“
A melancholy atmosphere grew between them, which no one really knew how to break through.
Somehow a transparent bond was built between them, because they could understand each other and that led to a familiar togetherness. In order to re-enter somewhat safer waters again, Robert turned to Moira.
"Your glass is empty. May I give you another refill?"
"Yes, I'll have another small liqueur. Why don't you tell me what it's like over there? Is there nothing but wilderness?"
Happy to have a neutral topic again, Robert poured liquer in both their glasses again and began to talk about America. He told her that on the east coast, the places like, for example, Boston, New York and
Washington were quite large. That in the south there were large farms, called plantations, and were mainly run by French emigrants. The products of these plantations ranged from cotton, tobacco and sugar cane to nuts and sweet, juicy fruits called peaches and oranges.
Moira listened intently as he talked about his life on the ranch in the west of the Great Country: Of Indians who had roamed across the prairie and who had spread fear of being attacked by them, or how they had warded off a night attack by deserters from the nearby fort .
She glanced at the small grandfather clock behind him on the dresser, when he had ended and she realized again that she still had a job to do tonight. It was getting late and she would have to leave. Dumfrey did not want Robert near the bay tonight but how was he so sure that Robert was planning to do this at all? She touched her skirt pocket and felt the small can. She didn't want to hurt Robert. He was a nice man, and how could she ever look him in the eyes again if she administered this sleeping pill to him. Moira wondered if she should dare not put the powder in his drink, but then her fear of the consequences won out.
"I would gladly pay a penny for the thoughts that are going through your head right now, Moira?"
She cringed, could he be reading her mind? No, certainly not, she reassured herself. She tried to smile.
"I was just thinking about how good it would be to be a man. It seems to me that a man is always allowed to do what he likes, while women are always patronized. I wish I could move far away, too."
"Mmm. Well at the moment I'm quite happy that you are not a man," Robert said to her mischievously. Was he flirting with her? Moira blushed and quickly busied herself with her liqueur glass. Robert smirked; it looked as if he had upset her a little. He would have liked to continue the amusing conversation, but it was late and he still wanted to go down to the bay tonight, because it was a full moon and he hoped to finally see the men again, who were up to some mischief on his property.
But before he said goodbye to Moira, he still had one more question in mind.
"Moira, have you had time to think about my offer in the last few days?"
She nodded.
"Yes, I have, and I would like to be your partner. Maybe you could also teach me some things so I could help you?"
"I'm glad you accepted my offer. Let's have a toast to the future partnership"
„Yes, but then I really have to go. It’s late now."
"The carriage will take you home again, of course. I'm just going to tell Albert that he'll drive them up. In the mean time, why don't you pour us a little drink, so that we can toast our partnership."
With these words he stood up and Moira poured another toast. It was her opportunity and yet she hesitated. Nor could she let it go, but the fear of Dumfrey seemed to cloud her mind, and so she quickly pulled the can out of her skirt pocket , poured the white powder into Robert's glass and swirled it a little so it would dissolve. Then she let the can disappear in her pocket again and waited for his return. When Robert entered the room again a short time later and approached her, she thought that the deed must have been written all over her face. As best she could, she tried to regain her informality of before, but when he now raised his glass, she winced inwardly. Perhaps she should have clumsily knocked it out of his hand, but she did not move. She let it happen that he welcomed her as a partner and then emptied his glass. A few minutes later, she was sitting in the carriage that was to to bring her home safely, and began crying out of despair over what she had done. Robert, who was unaware of all this, had gone into his study, because there he could pass the time until his departure. The evening had been beautiful and if he had not intended to ride into the bay today, he would certainly not have let Moira go. He had enjoyed this
evening, but now he wanted to concentrate on his project.
For months nothing more had happened and he had wanted to give up, but somehow he had the feeling that the villains would try it again tonight.
It was now shortly after ten and it gave him the opportunity to read some documents. But as he took the first sheet, he was overcome by a leaden tiredness.
He rubbed his eyes with his hand and tried to read on. But the letters blurred before his eyes and the eyelids became heavy. Strange, he had not drunk so much alcohol and yet he was suddenly so tired. Maybe it would help if he closed his eyes for a moment.
Chapter 10
"Robert? Robert!"
He woke up as he was rudely shaken.
"What?"
"Finally! Have you been here all night?"
With difficulty, Robert tried to open his eyes and was astonished when he looked into the brown eyes of Samuel, who was bending over him and shaking him
vigorously by the shoulder.
"What - what do you mean and what are you doing here?"
Gradually, his awareness seemed to return. It took him a moment to realize that he was still sitting at his desk, in his evening suit. Suddenly, he was wide awake. He was going to go to the bay after all.
He straightened up in a flash and surprised Samuel, who looked at him in amazement.
"What time is it?"
"A little after seven. I came here because I was worried. Normally you are already on your morning ride and when I came into the stable and your horse was still there, I came here to see what was going on."
"After seven already? How is that possible? I only came here for a little while last night."
Robert couldn't believe what Samuel was saying. He had been here all night at his desk? This had never happened to him before.
"Must have been a busy evening."
Samuel nudged him amicably in the shoulder.
"The last time I couldn't remember how I got to bed, was at the wedding of Glenn Harrods, the potter, and I must confess, I'd had a good portion of the wine. However, the awakening the next day was not so great. My skull wanted to burst. How are you?"
"I haven't been drinking that much. I can't explain it."
Robert ran his hands thoughtfully through his tousled hair. It's too bad that he had such an attack of fatigue that night. Now he had missed the chance to finally get behind the secret of this gang, but perhaps all was not yet lost.
"Samuel, saddle my horse, I'm going to change. I want to go for a ride."
"Will do!"
A little later Robert was in the bay. His horse tied up at the top of the cliffs and walked down the small path. Unlike the last time, it had not started to rain during the night. On the contrary, it was a sunny spring day and the temperatures were quite mild. The sea below was calm and only very gentle small waves beat against the beach. The narrow path that led into the bay was stony, and if people had used it that night, no traces would b
e found here. But he was lucky. The beach was full of footprints leading from the path to the water and from the water back to the path. He had known it.
They had been there and it annoyed him even more now, that he had not been. How many men? He could only guess, but he was sure by now that they were smugglers. They had waited here in the darkness on the beach and then pulled several boats ashore. Thanks to the low wave action and the tide, he could still see the deep drag marks in the sand where the men had pulled the boats ashore. Robert walked over to the cliffs. Perhaps there was a cave where they hid their contraband.
But as much as he inspected everything, there was no cave or anything else like that.
They must have transported the goods away. Quickly he ran back up the path, grabbed his horse and continued on foot along the path that the men had taken the last time and where he had lost their tracks. Now in broad daylight, the deep boot prints were quite visible.
The men seemed to be quite sure of what they were doing, if they did not cover their tracks. After a while the path had widened and the footprints had ceased, but now he could make out grooves running parallel to each other and he saw deep hoof prints.
His life in the wilderness had taught him to be able to read such tracks, and he inwardly thanked Henry Whittler, his father's old cowboy, who had taught him these tasks. Here - they had loaded everything onto a cart. Before he followed the tracks, he got on his horse and looked around the area.
He had left his property and, if he was not mistaken, was on the Fergusson’s land. Curious to see where the trail would end, he followed the tracks. Robert was quite surprised when the path suddenly
divided. A much narrower path led further along the cliffs in the direction of the village and the wider part led inland. Robert followed the tracks which were clearly visible and stood a little bit later on the grounds of the Fergusson. The ruins of the fire loomed before him like a memorial and the tracks showed him the way. They had driven around the house, had broken through the hedge on a small path and then had taken the road into the village. Shortly before the first houses came into sight, the track got lost, because too many carts and carriages were driving there. Disappointed at not getting any further, he turned around and rode back to the ruins. Why had they chosen this road? Weren't they afraid of being discovered on the estate? It is true that the tracks did not pass the small house where Moira lived, but rather on the other side of the old mansion; nevertheless the risk of being discovered was quite high. Something was nagging at him. Why did the smugglers take such a risk? Or perhaps they did not need to be afraid because there was an accomplice? But Moira had told him that she would be living there alone with the children and Eileen, and he couldn't really think of Eileen as a member of a Gang of Thieves. It just didn't make sense. Maybe it was a former employee of her father who was up to mischief here.
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