But Pepita felt that never again would she be able to look at a rough sea without remembering how her sister and brother-in-law had been drowned.
Because such memories upset her, she took Jeanie back into the garden where they played with a ball until it was nearly teatime.
Then, just as she was thinking that they should go back to The Castle, wash Jeanie’s hands and tidy her hair for the next meal, she saw Torquil McNairn coming down the steps that led to the terrace.
She smiled at him as he drew nearer and he said,
“You and Jeanie are the nicest things I have ever seen here and certainly no nymph, mermaid, or ghost could look so lovely!”
Pepita laughed.
“That is a very pretty speech, which I do appreciate.”
The way she spoke made Torquil’s eyes twinkle and he said,
“You sound as if you have been having a somewhat difficult time. I imagine that Her Grace has not been over-courteous!”
“I feel that that is a remark I should not answer,” Pepita replied.
Jeanie had run off, trying to catch a butterfly that she had seen hovering over the flowers, and Torquil’s eyes were on Pepita s face, as he said,
“You must be aware that you are far too beautiful for any woman, especially the Duchess, to tolerate in her home!”
“You need not tell me that we are not wanted,” Pepita replied, “but the Duke has said we can stay and that is all that matters.”
“I knew that.”
Pepita looked at him questionly.
“Did His Grace tell you so?”
“There was no need,” he answered. “When we met on the river and I saw that Rory was with him, I knew that the call of his blood was stronger than his dislike of the Sassenachs!”
Pepita could not help smiling.
“It seems impossible in this day and age that any man should hate us so violently because of something that happened over a hundred years ago.”
“You will learn that and that time does not count,” Torquil replied. “The battles that we were involved all in happened yesterday and our grievances do not grow less over the years but intensify.”
“It seems foolish and unfair.”
“That is the English point of view.”
“What is yours?” Pepita enquired.
“All you need to know,” he answered quietly, “is that you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen and that I want to protect you from all the consequences that your beauty will cause. I have a feeling that your beauty will be far more dangerous than your nationality.”
Pepita laughed as if she could not help it.
“Now you are trying to frighten me,” she protested. “I am sure that nobody, not even the Duchess, will be much concerned with the looks of a humble Governess.”
Now Torquil laughed.
“Is that what you intend to be?”
“That is what I am! And do help me remember that I must keep my place.”
He laughed again.
Then he said quite seriously,
“If things are difficult, if you have problems, will you promise to remember that I want to help you?”
“Thank you,” Pepita smiled. “I have a feeling that I may need a friend. At the same time, as a McNairn, you may prove to be an enemy.”
“That is an unkind thing to say,” he exclaimed. “If I had any aspirations or ambitions, which actually I have not, I might be opposed to your arrival for the same reasons as the Duchess.”
Pepita looked at him in a puzzled way and he explained,
“Before the Duke remarried, and actually it was I who suggested that he should do so, I was his Heir Presumptive as Chieftain.”
“Are you saying that he was going to make you Chieftain of the Clan?”
“After he dismissed Alistair and was resolved that his son should play no further part in his life, the Duke intended to introduce me to the Clan as his successor.”
“But – you said it was your idea that he should – get married.”
“As I had no intention of marrying Flora McDonavan,” Torquil said, “I suggested to the Duke that it would be much simpler if she gave him the heir he was so determined to have.”
Pepita stared at Torquil as if she could hardly believe what she had heard.
Then she said,
“Are you saying that – the Duchess was the – woman the Duke – wished you to marry?”
“She is a McDonavan and actually the only eligible daughter of the present Chieftain.”
Pepita put up her hands almost protestingly.
“I cannot believe it!” she said. “In England we are talking about the Emancipation of Women – and here in Scotland you seem to be living in the Dark Ages!”
“Yet you can see I have escaped,” Torquil said. “But now, thanks to you, all His Grace’s plans have been upset.”
“You mean since Rory is his heir.”
“Exactly! So you can hardly expect the Duchess to welcome him with open arms.”
“She might not have a son.”
“That, of course, is in the lap of the Gods,” Torquil replied, “but she is young and the Duke is magnificent for his age.”
There was silence and then Pepita said, watching Jeanie still running after the butterfly,
“I can see it must be all very upsetting. But then nothing can be done about it.”
“Nothing,” Torquil agreed, “unless we drop you all in the sea or lose you on the moors!”
He spoke lightly and Pepita laughed.
“I hope that will not happen.”
“I have already promised to look after you.”
There was an intense note in Torquil’s voice that made her feel shy and she moved away from him towards Jeanie.
“We must get ready for tea. Come along, Jeanie, and if you want to try to catch a butterfly, I will buy you a net like the one I used to have when I was a little girl.”
“Which was not so very long ago,” Torquil remarked.
She walked towards the child and he walked close beside her.
It suddenly struck her that the Duke and certainly the Duchess might think it very reprehensible if they thought that she was flirting with a young man as soon as she had arrived at The Castle.
She therefore caught Jeanie by the hand and, despite the child’s protests, hurried her up the steps from the garden acutely aware that all the time Torquil was following them.
She could hear his footsteps and at the same time she felt that he was somehow encroaching on her and it was difficult to escape from him.
‘I must be careful,’ she thought, ‘very very careful. If I annoy the Duke, he might change his mind and not allow me to stay with the children.’
But she could not help thinking how strange it was that he had planned that Torquil should be the next Chieftain.
‘How could he completely ignore Alistair?’ she asked herself indignantly.
As they went upstairs, she appreciated the luxury of The Castle, the paintings, the furniture and the numbers of servants to wait on them.
She did not have to tidy Jeanie’s hair when they reached their bedrooms since there was a housemaid waiting to do it for her.
She only had to see to herself.
There was no sign of Rory and, when she and Jeanie went into the breakfast room, where tea was laid, they found the Duchess and Torquil sitting at the large round table.
It was laden with every sort of delicacy, including scones, baps, bannocks and griddle cakes all freshly baked bread, half-a-dozen homemade jams, ginger snaps and a huge fruit cake, which Pepita was certain would prove very indigestible.
The Duchess did not speak when they came into the room, but Fergus brought Pepita a cup of tea, which he poured out for her and placed a glass of milk beside Jeanie.
There was a rather uncomfortable silence until the child said,
“I nearly caught a butterfly! Tomorrow I will catch lots of butterflies and put them in a jar and watch their wing
s flutter.”
“If you do that, they will die,” Torquil pointed out.
Jeanie shook her head.
“No. Mama said after I had watched them I must let them fly away, otherwise it would be cruel.”
“That is the right thing to do,” Torquil agreed. “Butterflies are very fragile and pretty, in fact they look like you as you were running about the garden.”
“I’m too big to be a butterfly!” Jeanie said in practical tones.
“Really, Torquil!” the Duchess interposed. “Do we have to have this ridiculous nursery conversation at every meal? I shall tell my husband that in future the children must eat in the schoolroom, which is the right place for them.”
Torquil did not answer. He merely looked at Pepita and then passed his cup to the Duchess, saying,
“May I have another cup of tea? I find that fishing makes me thirsty.”
The Duchess did not reply, but started to pour tea into his cup.
“In case you are interested,” he added, “I caught three salmon today and one of them weighed over twelve pounds.”
Pepita found it impossible to repress a little cry of excitement.
“May I see them?” she asked. “I have always wanted to see a salmon when it first comes out of the river.”
Before Torquil could reply the Duchess said sharply,
“I think, Miss Linford, you should confine yourself to teaching the children, which is what I understand you are here to do. The sport of His Grace or his guests is no concern of yours.”
“I apologise, Your Grace,” Pepita said quickly, “but I find both the sport and the customs of this strange and extraordinarily backward country very interesting from an academic point of view!”
For a moment she realised that the Duchess did not understand what she meant, but she was aware that Torquil was having difficulty in repressing his laughter.
Then the Duchess rose to her feet to leave the room in what would have been a dignified manner if she had not been so ungainly.
Only when she was out of earshot did Torquil say,
“That was a hard ball straight at the middle stump! At the same time you are facing a very implacable enemy.”
“She is determined to make that clear,” Pepita replied. “Ever since I arrived she has done nothing but tell me we must leave immediately because we are not wanted.”
“I don’t think that the Duke will listen to her,” Torquil said, “but I do think that she will make trouble for you if she can.”
“I am much more worried about the children. It is bad for them to hear people bickering over their heads, which is something they have never been used to.”
“If your sister was as lovely as you,” Torquil remarked, “I can understand Alistair thinking that Scotland was no loss.”
“He very much minded losing Scotland,” Pepita replied, “but love is a gift from Heaven.”
She gave a little sigh before she went on,
“You may not believe it but, if I had the choice, I would not hesitate to exchange this marvellous Castle for the small house we lived in in Cornwall. We were very poor, but it always seemed to be filled with sunshine and laughter.”
“That is what you have brought here,” Torquil murmured.
Their eyes met across the table and Pepita felt that it was hard to look away.
Then, before she could speak, a wildly excited Rory came rushing into the room.
“I have caught a salmon, a great big one!” he cried. “Come see it please Aunt Pepita, come see it!”
“I would love to,” Pepita replied.
Then, when she rose to her feet, she saw that the Duke had joined them.
“I think you had better have your tea first,” he said to Rory, “and, when the ghillies have laid all the fish out on a slab, we will go down and admire them.”
He spoke in such a gentle tone that Pepita stared at him before she asked,
“Did Rory really catch a salmon?”
The Duke smiled.
“Shall we say that he had a little help, especially in bringing it in for the gaff.”
“It is the biggest fish you have ever seen, Aunt Pepita!” Rory cried. “Bigger than me and I was very clever to catch it.”
Torquil laughed and said to the Duke,
“I know exactly what he is feeling, Your Grace. That is just how I felt when I caught my first salmon, but I was two years older than he is.”
The Duke sat down at the opposite end of the table from where the tea trays were laid out, looked at Pepita and said,
“I suggest, Miss Linford, as my wife is not here, that you pour me a cup of tea. Fergus is fetching Rory another pair of stockings as his are wet.”
“The river went right over the top of my boots, Aunt Pepita,” Rory said proudly, “but I did not fall in.”
“I am glad about that,” Pepita replied.
She sat down in the place the Duchess had vacated and poured out a cup of tea for the Duke, which Torquil passed to him.
When she had done so, he gave her his cup and she was filling it when the door opened and the Duchess came into the room.
“I heard you were back, Kelvin – ” she began and then saw Pepita sitting in her place.
She walked towards her, her face contorted with rage as she exclaimed,
“How dare you! How dare you assume the position as hostess at my table and in my house!”
“I-I am sorry – ” Pepita said and began rising from the chair, but the Duke interrupted,
“Don’t be ridiculous, Flora! I asked Miss Linford to pour me a cup of tea as you were not here.”
Pepita had moved away, but the Duchess stood at the table staring at her husband.
“I will not have that woman here! Do you understand? She is to leave now, immediately, tonight! She is not only English but already she is behaving like a harlot. I saw her out my window flirting with Torquil on the lawn in a way that no decent woman would behave!”
The words seemed to pour out of the Duchess’s mouth with an uncontrollable venom that was frightening.
Then, as Pepita drew in her breath and wondered if she should run away before she heard any more, the Duke said in a voice of thunder,
“That is enough, Flora! You are upsetting yourself quite unnecessarily. Go to your room and lie down.”
It was an order that sounded almost like a cannon shot.
In the passing of a second the Duchess stared at her husband as if she would defy him.
Then she burst into tears and went from the room.
For a moment there was an awkward silence until Rory, who had his mouth full of hot scone, asked,
“Why is she unhappy? Would she like to see my salmon?”
Because it was so ridiculous, Pepita felt that she wanted to laugh. Then, as if he would somehow disperse the awkwardness they all were feeling, the Duke suggested,
“Hurry up and eat your tea and we will go to see the salmon.”
Jeanie, feeling that she had been neglected, rose from her seat to stand at the Duke’s side.
“Rory caught a salmon,” she said, “but I nearly caught a butterfly! It was a very pretty one.”
“You must tell me about it,” the Duke said.
“That man,” Jeanie went on, pointing to Torquil, “said that I looked like a butterfly, but he is silly. I’m too big to be a butterfly!”
“Much too big,” the Duke agreed, “but not much bigger than Rory’s salmon!”
Pepita listened to this exchange in amazement.
Then she felt her heart singing.
Mr. Clarence had been right. The children had inherited their father s magnetic charm and the Duke was captivated.
Chapter Four
The ladies came out of the dining room and Pepita, who came last, thought that she would slip away.
As usual the Duchess had ignored her and deliberately had not introduced her to the guests at dinner.
Some of them were staying in the house, but the rest had se
emed somewhat astonished when the Duchess made no effort to explain who Pepita was.
It was left to Torquil, who as usual was pouring oil on troubled waters, who said to an elderly and obviously grand lady,
“I don’t think you have met Alistair’s sister-in-law, who brought his children here after he died.”
Instantly there was a look of interest and curiosity in the Dowager’s eyes and after that everybody in the party whom Pepita had not met already wanted to talk to her.
She thought the way that they spoke so warmly of Alistair was very touching and it was obvious that they had not forgotten him.
But she realised that every word that was said to her infuriated the Duchess and this made her feel uncomfortable.
*
Every day, it seemed to her, the Duchess’s antagonism increased not only towards her but towards the children
She never spoke to them except to find fault and when possible she swept by them disdainfully as if they were beneath her condescension.
Now Pepita thought that, as it was growing late, it would be more comfortable for her to disappear rather than to sit in the drawing room conscious of the Duchess’s hatred vibrating towards her whether she spoke or kept silent.
She therefore decided to go to bed and started to walk down the passage towards her own room and the sitting room next to it, which had now been allotted to the children.
It was there that she had begun to give them their lessons finding it hard to do where Rory was concerned.
If his grandfather was fishing, he wished to fish with him and the Duke had already allowed the small boy to go with him when shooting on the moors, although he had not yet allowed him to carry a gun.
It was obvious to Pepita that the Duke was delighted with Rory and also found it hard to resist Jeanie.
Equally she knew that for her there was an unbreakable barrier between them.
She had almost reached her bedroom when at the end of the passage she saw the moonlight shining through an uncurtained window.
She then decided that it was a perfect night to go to the Watch Tower.
It was Mrs. Sutherland who had told her originally that there was ‘a grand view’ from the Watch Tower and, when Rory was out with the Duke, she and Jeanie had climbed the twisting stairs of the old Tower and gone onto the flat roof.
The Scots Never Forget Page 6
