The note of warning was deliberate and Shona turned from the window as she uttered it.
“Caroline isn’t any use to anyone,” she said, stating the fact without vehemence, her gentle voice entirely devoid of malice as she moved towards the door. “She intends to marry Hew. She was going to marry him once before and then money came along and she changed her mind about him. It was all as convenient as that. She married a Canadian who came to the Clyde on business and was brought up here for a fishing holiday. He was years her senior, but that didn’t matter to Caroline. He had everything else she wanted in life, and when he was killed very conveniently shortly after their marriage she came back.” Suddenly Shona stood very still with her fingers tightly gripped over the iron bed rail. “I can’t tell you what Hew’s reactions were to her return. I don’t think anyone will ever know,” she added slowly. “He was in love with her at one time. He may be still. He is not the sort of man who wears his heart on his sleeve.”
“No,” Elizabeth agreed, her voice suddenly catching in her throat.
“So, you see,” Shona went on determinedly, “She can only do harm where Tony is concerned. She’ll amuse herself with him—she’s not above that sort of thing, as you might guess—and then she’ll toss him to one side when it suits her, like a discarded glove. It won’t matter to Caroline what havoc she has caused in a boy’s heart in the interval. That will be Tony’s tragedy.” Suddenly she turned, her blue eyes darkened by a hatred such as Elizabeth would have believed her incapable of a few moments ago. “Don’t let her do it,” she repeated. “Don’t let her spoil your brother’s life while she’s hanging about waiting for Hew!”
“Perhaps,” Elizabeth suggested, “Hew may marry her—sooner than we think.”
“I don’t know. I really don’t know,” Shona said. “But I hope to heaven he’ll have more sense!”
“If he’s still in love with her—if what she did hasn’t really made any difference—”
“How can he be in love with her?” Shona protested. “A man like Hew! Oh, I don’t know! I really don’t know,” she repeated. “Sometimes I’ve wondered if the money might make a difference,” she added stiltedly. “Hew would do anything—sacrifice anything for Ardlamond and to keep Whitefarland. His heart’s in that place. He’s lived there almost like a hermit for four years now, trying to defeat time, hoping he could make it pay sufficiently to meet the debts of the estate. And now there will be death duties on top of everything else and Whitefarland will have to go. Unless Caroline does something about it.”
“What could she do?”
“She could lend him the money, I suppose,” Shona suggested, tight-lipped. “Goodness knows, she has plenty of it! On the other hand, she might even buy Whitefarland herself. It would be a nice bit of bait and Caroline would be capable of anything if she thought it would catch Hew.”
“But if she has only to wait for him to forget his former hurt?”
“That’s just it! Caroline doesn’t want to wait. She has always been impetuous, although I should imagine she realizes by this time that Hew won’t be rushed into anything. He’ll take his time about it till he’s quite sure what he wants to do and then he’ll go boldly out and do it.” Shona said as she went towards the bedroom door.
Hew was having a belated breakfast in Shona’s small private living-room when they went downstairs. Where she could, Shona kept her family life apart from her work, and her two sturdy sons, one sixteen and the other a year younger, were seated at the table in the window alcove with their unexpected but obviously welcome guest.
They all rose to their feet as Shona and Elizabeth came in, and Elizabeth met Hew’s eyes across the gay yellow breakfast cloth.
“What news of Tony?” he inquired in a brief, clipped tone which reminded her instantly of his angry impatience of the night before.
“Mrs. Lorimer says he’s slept like a baby. Elizabeth’s voice was nervous. “It doesn’t seem as if there’s any serious after-effects of the accident,” she added.
He grunted and pulled out a chair for her.
“You haven’t slept,” he observed. “At least, not for very long.”
“Nor you.” She drew in a deep breath. “I heard you driving off just before dawn.”
His mouth tightened.
“I had quite a bit to do. Everything would appear to be settled now, however,” he added somewhat grimly. “All we have to do is to get Tony safely back to Ardlamond whenever Doctor MacTaggart says he is fit to travel.”
Which meant that they might have to stay at Ravenscraig, wasting precious time for Hew.
“Doctor Mac will be here before ten,” Shona said, glancing at the clock on the chimneypiece. “Elizabeth,” she added, “you haven’t met the boys, have you? This is John, and the one beside Hew, helping himself to a third plateful of cornflakes, no doubt, is Donald!” Her ready laughter was full of pride. “You’ll be meeting Miss Stanton quite a lot in future,” she told her sons. “She’s come to stay at Ardlamond.”
There was a strange, almost aggressive firmness about the last few words which surprised Elizabeth, but she shook hands with John and Donald without thinking too deeply about it or pondering Shona’s meaning for very long.
“We’re off on to the hill,” Donald announced, excusing himself and his brother a few minutes later. “The Colonel said we could go with him if we were up early enough.”
“Well, just you watch those guns,” his mother warned on the swift note of anxiety common to mothers the world over. “No larking, remember!”
“Nobody could ‘lark’ with the Colonel around.” John assured her with a grin as his brother made off. “He takes his military manner on to the hill with him, but he’s really all right!” He made Hew a brief salute. “Shall we be seeing you at the Sheepdog Trials, sir?” he asked eagerly. “Our Gyp has to beat your Wraith one of these days, you know!”
“I’m not sure if I’m going to have time for the Trials this year, John,” Hew answered regretfully.
“But the Cup?” Shona protested. “The Laird has always presented the Cup, Hew.”
It was the first reference to his new status, and Elizabeth supposed that he had not really had time to remember all his commitments.
“I had forgotten about the Cup,” he admitted. “It was something my father always did—and enjoyed doing.”
“So we will be seeing you?” John said, delighted. “Well, until then, cheerio, sir!”
Shona turned to the sideboard with a quiet smile in her eyes.
“Will you take porridge, Elizabeth?” she asked, “or would you rather have cornflakes?”
“Porridge, if I may?” Elizabeth sat down facing Hew, who was drinking a second cup of coffee. There was no other place set at the table and she wondered what had become of Caroline. “Has—Mrs. Hayler gone home?” she asked at last.
“We had to report the accident,” Hew answered. “I took her back to the Castle. There was no point in her staying here when she was perfectly all right,” he added.
So Caroline had been with him in the Daimler when he had driven it away in the first glimmer of dawn! It seemed rather callous of her to have gone without waiting for the doctor’s final verdict on Tony, but perhaps Hew had insisted. Two unexpected guests were quite sufficient for Shona to cope with, and Caroline was probably a difficult person to please.
There was relief for Elizabeth in the thought that they would not have to drive back to Ardlamond with Caroline in the same car, although there was torture, too, in the memory of the Daimler speeding southwards in the first magic of the dawning with Hew at the wheel and Caroline by his side.
She knew that she had no real right to feel jealousy or envy. Hew had belonged to Caroline long ago, and for all she knew the spell had never really been broken.
Doctor MacTaggart came at ten o’clock and, greatly to her surprise, declared that Tony was quite fit to travel back with them immediately.
“Let him stay here for a day or two, all the same,�
�� Shona suggested unexpectedly. “The boys will love having him and he can go out with the guns or fish, if he would prefer that.” She gave Elizabeth a long, direct look. “It will make a change for him,” she added.
“It would be a most sensible idea,” the kindly, middle-aged doctor agreed. He was thoroughly at home at Ravenscraig and had sat down to coffee and home-baked scones “to help him on his way,” as Shona put it. “Maybe he won’t feel so confident in a car for a while after yesterday’s amazing performance.”
“We can bring him with us when we come down for the Trials,” Shona suggested, still looking steadily at Elizabeth. “That will give him a week.”
“If you promise to make him work for his keep,” Hew said, “I think it’s a very good idea.”
Shona laughed, having won her point.
“That’s Hew’s infallible recipe!” she declared. “Tony will be all right. Everyone has his fair share of work to do at Ravenscraig, and they accept it quite naturally. You know you always did, Hew, when you were here.”
. He agreed, although there was a hint of reserve in his eyes as he rose to go. He hadn’t a great deal of confidence in Tony, Elizabeth decided, which was hardly to be expected after the events of the past forty-eight hours.
She knew that he must want to get back to Ardlamond as quickly as possible and that she would have to return with him.
“I’d like to say good-bye,” she suggested, looking from Hew to the doctor. “I won’t be more than a minute or two.”
“Of course, go ahead,” Doctor MacTaggart agreed. “When I was up there just now he was busy getting outside a large breakfast, so a few sisterly words of advice won’t do him a bit of harm!”
Nervously Elizabeth looked back to where Hew stood, but he obviously did not intend to accompany her to her brother’s room. Apparently what he had to say to Tony could wait till he returned to Ardlamond.
Tony, looking slightly guilty now, was sitting up in bed with a tray across his knees.
“I say, I’m terribly sorry about this, Liz,” he apologized in the spontaneous manner he could adopt at times and which generally won instant forgiveness from the offended party. “I had no idea you would be dragged all this way to pull me out of a ditch!” Elizabeth relieved him of the tray, noticing with some relief that he had just finished a substantial meal.
“It doesn’t matter so much about me,” she said, sitting down on the edge of his bed when she had put the tray on a convenient table between the two windows. “It’s all the other people you’ve upset that make it so annoying—Mrs. Lorimer—”
“And Hew Kintyre?” he supplied for her. “I expect he’s madder than a hatter about all this. Still, it wasn’t his car, thank goodness!”
“Which is entirely beside the point,” Elizabeth reminded him. “You had no right to be driving anybody’s car—not without L-plates, anyway.”
“I’ve got to learn some time,” he argued.
“Not outside the law, Tony. What you did may cause endless trouble for Hew.”
“Why should it? Unless he’s been a fool and told the police I was driving.”
Elizabeth could scarcely hide her irritation, for this had been exactly Caroline’s attitude.
“I don’t know what Hew has done,” she said, trying to keep her temper, “but, whatever it is, it won't be dishonest.”
“Surely you’ve changed your mind about him?” he mocked. “You resented his dictatorial attitude as much as I did in the beginning—remember?”
“Yes, I remember. But that doesn’t affect the present situation. You owe him an apology, at least.”
“Why should I apologize?”
“Because, whether you like it or not, Hew has taken his father’s place and he is now your legal guardian,” Elizabeth explained as evenly as possible. “You are entirely answerable to him now.”
“What utter rot!” Tony was indignant. “The days of guardians and that sort of thing are over. They went out with antimacassars and side-whiskers and Income Tax at sixpence in the pound!”
“Which doesn’t alter the fact that Mother made a will and that you can’t do just as you like unless someone else thinks it is right.”
“You mean Hew Kintyre, of course? Give me strength!” Tony implored. “He’s not all that much older than we are, when you come to think of it. What does he know about being a guardian?”
“Whatever you feel about it, Tony, give it a trial. Hew didn’t ask to be given this authority. He has accepted it as a duty, out of respect for his father. Try to see it that way and—and keep your side of the bargain,” she urged. “It won’t be for long.”
“Two years almost!” he exploded. “And you call that ‘not long’!”
“It isn’t a lifetime.”
“It’s going to feel like one if we have to stay here all the time,” he countered quickly. “Still, there might be compensations.”
She knew that he meant Caroline, but suddenly it seemed much too difficult to have the matter of Caroline out with him then and there.
“Mrs. Lorimer has suggested that you might like to stay here for a day or two,” she said aloud. “John and Donald would be good company for you, and the doctor said it would be a good idea.”
“And what about my guardian?” he asked dryly. “What did he say?”
“I don’t think Hew will mind.”
“Are you going back to Ardlamond with him?”
“Yes, I must. I—we can’t all stay here, causing Mrs. Lorimer extra work. She has other guests to look after.”
“What about Caroline?” Tony asked cautiously.
“She’s gone home. Hew took her—early this morning.”
“She was wonderful about the smash.” His eyes were distant, admiring Caroline in retrospect. “She didn’t make the slightest fuss when I put it in the ditch, and I really could have done a lot of damage.”
Elizabeth’s lips tightened.
“Well, don’t touch it again,” she advised. “That will be the easiest solution.”
“Are you suggesting that I shouldn’t see Caroline again either?” he asked somewhat aggressively. Elizabeth got up from the bed.
“I’m suggesting you shouldn’t fall in love with her,” she said, looking at him squarely. “She’s already in love with Hew.”
He gave an odd, disjointed little laugh.
“That’s ridiculous!” he declared, bluffing because his pride had been hurt. “She’s not in love with anyone.”
“Is that what she told you?”
“No, but—well you can guess that sort of thing after you’ve been in someone’s company for a while.”
“You’ve known Caroline for less than a week,” Elizabeth reminded him gently.
“So what? I’m not thinking about marrying her, if that’s what you’re driving at. I suppose I would have to ask the laird’s permission first,” he added scathingly.
“Tony, try to understand about Hew!” Elizabeth implored. “He can only want to do what’s best for you. It’s a sort of trust where he’s concerned.”
“Oh, all right!” he exclaimed, settling down beneath the blankets. “Have it any way you like! Admire him if you must, but don’t expect me to follow suit. I think he’s unbearable!”
The final, defiant outburst was so childish that Elizabeth was forced to smile. Tony, in so many ways, had never quite grown up.
Hew was waiting for her when she went downstairs. “Shona has gone to feed the livestock,” he informed her as he turned towards the open front door. “We can say goodbye on the way out.”
They found Mrs. Lorimer surrounded by hens. Complete in Wellington boots and armed with two zinc pails, she was on her way to a row of huts in the middle of a field to collect the morning’s eggs, but she turned when she saw them, leaning over the dividing fence to shake hands and tell Elizabeth not to worry about Tony.
“We’ll take good care of him,” she added with a smile. “And Doctor Mac has promised to look in again tomorrow morning. He li
kes an excuse for a newly-baked scone!”
“You’re far too kind,” Elizabeth said seriously. “Nonsense!” Shona objected. She stood back, picking up her pails again, and for a moment there was just a hint of wistfulness in her blue eyes as she looked at Hew. In the next instant, however, she was smiling steadily at him. “Haste ye back, Hew!” she said, the soft Highland intonation in her voice deepening almost to a caress. “You know you are always welcome.”
“Fine I know it!” he told her, taking Elizabeth by the arm to guide her down the stony approach to the road, where he had parked his car.
They drove away, and when they were approaching Oban he said:
“I’m going to have to keep you waiting for me here for half an hour or so. I’ve got some business to do in the town, and then I thought we might have a bite of lunch. I told Mrs. Malcolm that we might not be back home till later. I wasn’t sure about Tony then.”
The invitation was so unexpected, so utterly desirable, that Elizabeth had to catch her breath before she could reply.
“Well,” he asked rather dryly, “doesn’t the idea appeal to you? You could at least go window-shopping while you are waiting. The Oban shops are quite attractive, I believe.”
“Of course it appeals to me!” Elizabeth sounded as if she had been running a very long way. “How long will you be?”
“Not too long. Better say one o’clock at the Marine.” He slowed the car as they approached the town, winding down towards the promenade. “It’s the hotel with the glass frontage and a flight of steps up to the entrance. You can’t miss it. The shops are mostly along there, too, and opposite the harbour.”
He pulled up at the kerb and Elizabeth got out, looking about her with interest.
“Would you mind very much if I went up to that monument-thing on the hill?” she asked. “Someone’s Folly, I think you called it.”
He looked surprised.
“Yes, he said, “it was built by a banker named MacCaig. He meant to fill the niches with statues so that it would be an everlasting monument to his family and, presumably, their wealth! But the idea broke him in the end. He met with all sorts of snags and finally with disillusionment, I expect. Anyway, he ended up a bankrupt, and there the Folly stands—an everlasting memorial to a man’s foolish pride, if you like!”
The Last of the Kintyres Page 7
