Unknown (14 page)

THEY flew direct from San Francisco to New York. Charles had been busy all the previous day, which Elizabeth and Mrs. Abercrombie had spent on a bus tour to the High Sierras, but he had joined them for a meal in the restaurant afterwards. They had not gone to the Starlite Roof again; it seemed that he was avoiding a second visit.

The big jet went up over the mountains and across Kansas and Missouri and Indiana till the wide pattern of the Great Lakes lay beneath them, glittering in the sun.

When Mrs. Abercrombie settled down to read her book, Elizabeth offered to help Charles with the accumulation of paper work which he had taken from his briefcase, and he made room for her in the vacant seat beside him.

"You've not been paid for this, you know," he reminded her.

"But I could help," she suggested.

"Very much."

They worked together for the last two hours of the flight while Mrs. Abercrombie glanced across the aisle at them at intervals, her expression satisfied.

"Grand'mere looks like a cat who's been at the cream!" Charles commented as he gathered up the final documents to clip them together for future reference. "I often wonder what goes on in that agile mind of hers."

"Nothing to your detriment," Elizabeth decided. "She's very fond of you."

"And I of her. What I would do without her at Glen Dearg I don't really know."

It was the first time he had mentioned his Scottish home in a voluntary way, and she longed to ask him about Kilchoan, but they were coming in to land at Kennedy and she fastened her seat-belt instead, feeling the thrill of yet another stop-over in their long flight to the land of his birth.

New York was warm and sultry. It was one of those early spring days when there didn't seem to be enough air to go round and what wind there was never seemed to reach the streets. The sidewalks were crowded with hurrying commuters, glad to be on their way out to the suburbs or even farther north to the little towns on the Atlantic seaboard which gave them room to breathe. Yet Elizabeth could feel the magic of this fantastic giant of cities as soon as they reached its pulsating, fabulous heart.

"I'd hate to live here, but I'm glad I've seen it," she confessed to Adele after a busy morning at the shops and an afternoon of sightseeing. "There's a tremendous feeling of power everywhere—power and ruthlessness. Everybody seems in such a hurry, not caring too much about the people they pass by."

"I find it—sterile in comparison with Paris or even London," Adele agreed, "but it does put a certain amount of zip into you, nevertheless. My mind is always greatly stimulated by New York, while in Paris I just want to dream!"

She was the most interesting old lady Elizabeth had ever encountered and just to be in her company was a pleasure. When they came to part, as they inevitably must, she would find it hard to say goodbye. And harder still to turn her back on Charles, walking away without a tear.

He took than to a Broadway show, the latest musical which he declared they ought to see.

"Charles has a way of conjuring theatre tickets out of thin air!" his grandmother laughed. "He likes to see me enjoying myself."

Elizabeth was loving every minute of their brief stay in this great metropolis of thundering subways and racing taxi-cabs and monumental shops full of baubles for the over-rich. She listened to the mighty pulse-beat and all the noise and bustle of commerce and enjoyment as it moved along. It was like being at the hub of a gigantic wheel which never stopped turning, and when their visit was finally over she felt breathless.

"Now for Scotland!" said Adele as they stood once more at Kennedy Airport waiting to board the. jetliner that would take them across the Atlantic. "You can't imagine a greater contrast."

Elizabeth's heartbeats quickened at the thought Her original plan was still intact, thanks to a generous old woman's determination, and she would repay Adele in any way she could.

It seemed no time until they were gliding down towards Prestwick. Long islands lay in the sea beneath them and a serrated coastline where deep lochs bit inland between dark mountains whose summits were wreathed in cloud. They saw the long peninsula of Kintyre and the peaks of Arran gleaming through mist before, once again, they had touched down on solid land.

Elizabeth wanted to cry. It had been her mother's fondest wish to set foot on her native soil once more before she died, and now she was here, alone.

Adele put a gloved hand on her arm.

"Welcome home, my dear," she said.

Charles had left his car in the airport parking lot and he went to collect it while they stood by the luggage.

"I can't come any farther, Mrs. Abercrombie," Elizabeth said with a catch in her throat "It would be an intrusion."

Adele turned to look at her.

"Don't let me down," she said briefly. "I need you, Elizabeth. I want you to come to Glen Dearg with us, at least for the time being."

"But, Charles—"

"Charles is hardly ever Acre, although he should be. He has a flat in Glasgow, a spartan, bachelor place where he tells me he is content, but I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't mean he is happy. Happiness is relevant, of course, but there was a time when he looked forward to a full life in the glen." Her face darkened, her saddened eyes searching the crowd for a glimpse of her grandson. "He should be back at Kilchoan permanently, not cooped up in a Kirklee flat with a bad-tempered old woman to cook for him on the odd evenings he is at home," she added firmly.

Charles rejoined them, helping to stow their luggage in the capacious boot of his car.

"Something will have to go inside," Adele told him. "You can put Elizabeth's grip and my pigskin case on the back seat"

He stiffened.

"Which means that Elizabeth is coming with us all the way?" he asked.

"I've managed to persuade her," Adele said airily. "We are half-way through my correspondence and I refuse to cope with the remainder on my own. I had no idea how useful a secretary-companion could be."

Elizabeth hesitated, torn between her allegiance to Adele and a pitiful pride which would not let her impose on Charles if he did not want her at Glen Dearg.

"I really ought to find a hotel in Glasgow," she suggested. "After all, that's why I came to Scotland—to see the city and—and all the places my mother used to speak about I've loved being with you, Mrs. Abercrombie, and being able to help, but our original arrangement was only for the flight home. There was never any suggestion that I should continue in your employment afterwards."

"We play our cards as they are dealt to us," Adele said firmly. "I said I needed your help and I meant it. Surely you can spare me a week or two of your time, Elizabeth."

Charles opened the rear door of the car.

"There isn't any answer to that," he told Elizabeth, "even if you think you have one. Get in, and Grand'mere will give you a running commentary as we go along."

Mrs. Abercrombie didn't insist that her secretary-companion should occupy the front seat next to the driver. She was far too astute to push her luck after she had achieved so much.

They drove northwards, on a road which wound across open moorland to plunge swiftly into the outskirts of the city, but presently they turned away from the great, grey heart of Glasgow to wind through fields and trees towards the banks of the Clyde.

At this point the great commercial river widened out, with shipyards and cranes and derricks thrusting up against the skyline on either side of it, but nothing could pull Elizabeth's gaze away from the gentle hills on its northern bank. These were the hills she had known by name for years, the Kilpatricks and the Campsie Fells, kneeling at the feet of the great mountain chain which was the barrier to the north. Somewhere in among these hills, on the banks of Loch Lomond, her mother had been born and loved and married before the needs of a growing family had taken her to the opposite end of the earth.

I can't think about it; I can't speak, Elizabeth thought, putting her hand to her throat. It's all here, it's all happening as we planned it so long ago!

They drove over the long span of a delicate-looking bridge where the river lay far beneath them and the hills came very near.

"These are the hills you spoke about," said Adele. "The Kilpatricks and the Campsies. Remember when you first climbed the Whangie, Charles?" she added to her grandson. "You were as proud as if it had been Everest. My goodness! we are nearly home after travelling all these miles."

They were in among the hills now, with vast forests clothing the valleys and deep blue lochs appearing, as if by magic, wherever the trees grew thin. A wide strath opened out before them and for the first time Elizabeth was face to face with the great peaks of the Grampians lifting their heads in the sun. Mountain after mountain closed in their horizon and she longed to name them all. The deep glens through which they passed were almost familiar to her through song and story, and many a legend came to life as she gazed expectantly towards the purple crests of the beckoning peaks. They were in the vast dark mystical heart of Scotland, in the place where she had always longed to be, and somehow she knew that she belonged there. A peace which she could only half understand had settled on her heart and the warmth which had been missing from her life during the past few months returned.

A chain of narrow lochs linked themselves in a sapphire necklace on the road beneath them and she held her breath as Charles swung the car to the left and they began to climb another hill. The view from the top was magnificent: hills and lochs and narrow straths lay far below them and the great mountains towered above with their heads in the clouds. It was a spring day and all the world had been renewed, and the sun was shining as brightly as it had ever shone in Australia.

"We don't get many days like this," Adele reflected, "but when we do they are magnificent. If you like to walk, Elizabeth, Glen Dearg is the place for you."

Elizabeth supposed that they must be nearing Kilchoan, and her heart beat rapidly at the prospect of seeing the lodge for the first time. It was the home which Charles had known since boyhood, the place where he belonged.

Looking at him as he drove swiftly towards it, she saw the sudden tension in his face and the strong grip of his hands on the wheel. His jaw was set in a hard line and although she could not see his expression she imagined that his eyes were hard. What had gone wrong, she wondered, to change a happy childhood home to a place he avoided whenever he could?

The car plunged down into a narrow glen where a still, deep lochan lay, half in sunlight, half in shade, surrounded by a dense pine forest which stretched as far as she could see. The mountain tops rose above it, clear and shining in the afternoon sunshine, but along the valley floor the shadows were already gathering, making it look strangely cold.

At the far end of the glen they could see Kilchoan Lodge standing in a small clearing above the lochan.

"There it is!" Adele announced with pride. "The sun is shining on it today."

The narrow road they took along the lochside was busy with sheep. They had climbed down off the hillside to nibble the sweeter grass by the waterside, but they hobbled away at the sound of the car's horn, bounding back to the hill and safety.

"Wise creatures!" Adele commented. "They know all about cars and when to keep clear of them." She turned round in her seat. "Are you tired, Elizabeth?" she asked. "You haven't said a word since we passed through Aberfoyle!"

"I haven't had an adequate word to say," Elizabeth confessed. "It's all so beautiful—so utterly lovely."

They had reached the lodge gates which were opened for them by a small, red-cheeked woman in a white overall who had obviously been baking when she had heard the sound of the approaching car. Adele wound down her window to speak to her.

"Welcome back, ma'am," the woman said. "We are all glad to see you." She turned her eyes on Charles with an appreciative smile. "And Mr. Charles, too," she added. "We wondered if he would bring you home."

It was almost too much for Elizabeth, this homecoming, the warmth of it which wrapped Charles and his grandmother round like a protective cloak, making her feel how much she had lost when her own mother had died.

"This is Miss Drummond, my new secretary," Mrs. Abercrombie was explaining. "She has come all the way from Australia with me, so we must make her feel welcome at Kilchoan, Effie, whenever we can."

The gates were closed behind them as they drove on, shutting them into their own domain.

"Effie's husband is our grieve," Adele explained. "Charles depends on him a great deal now that he has decided to live in Glasgow for most of the year. James Murdoch has worked for us for over thirty years and we are firm friends."

The lodge was in sight, a long, low house built of native stone set on a rocky ledge above the water with the hills sweeping down behind it to form a spectacular backcloth to its tall chimneys and weathered walls. A smooth green lawn lay in front of the windows which seemed to reflect all the sunlight there was, and the house itself was surrounded by a high stone wall built to shelter a rose garden and the fruit trees and vegetable plot which Adele had told her about in Hawaii.

They drove under a stone archway in the surrounding wall and pulled up before a canopied entrance where the great oak door stood invitingly open to welcome them.

At the sound of their voices someone came running through the house, and Elizabeth had an impression of light and air as a fair-haired girl stood before them in the doorway, yet at a second glance she saw that, the girl was crippled. One arm hung awkwardly by her side as she rushed to greet them.

"Grand'mere!" she cried. "You have been such a long time coming. I've been waiting for
days
!" Suddenly her eyes went beyond the old lady to where Charles stood beside the car. "Charles," she added haltingly, "we didn't expect you."

"So it will be a nice surprise for everybody," Mrs. Abercrombie said, bridging the awkward little gap in the conversation. "Come and meet Elizabeth Drummond. I wrote to you about her."