‘Susan, do be quiet,’ he interrupted sharply, looking slightly affronted. ‘I wasn’t even hinting at such a thing. I only intended pointing out that a caravan site can be a real asset as well as a lucrative means of profit if properly run, as you say this one is.’
Restively Sue glanced at him, a tiny frown between her winged brows, wondering, not for the first time, why she couldn’t think faster. Tim saw things which never occurred to an ordinary individual. With him it was second nature, something which made him good at his job, and quick to gain promotion. But to Sue, who usually accepted things on face value, it wasn’t so easy to delve beneath the surface.
‘On a place like this,’ she said at last, ‘one thing usually balances another. The caravan park and other enterprises, such as deer-stalking, must help subsidize the lack of profit from other parts of the land.’
‘Deer-stalking, too?’ Tim looked up quickly from his examination of a small Canton enamel dish. ‘It seems to me, Susan, that you could be heir to quite a property, one way and another. Have you ever been right round the estate? Have you any idea what size it is?’
Mutely Sue shook her head, wishing distractedly she could find the courage to tell Tim to mind his own business. Yet it might be foolish to allow him to disturb her so deeply. But how to shut him up without being rude? Perhaps the wisest way to divert him would be to use a little diplomacy?
‘I have been deer-stalking,’ she said listlessly. ‘Remember, I was out with Meric on the day you arrived.’
Tim leaned forward. ‘Doesn’t it seem strange that this was the first time you’d been out on the estate, in two months?’
‘Not really.’ Sue moved away from him, hoping he hadn’t noticed the uncertainty in her eyes. Not easily could she confess to thinking the same thing herself. His questions echoed to closely her own doubts. Helplessly she tried to push them aside. ‘You see, Tim, Father is far from well, and I don’t want to do anything to upset him - or Meric Findlay.’
‘Upset?’ Out of sympathy, Tim stuttered crossly, ‘I can understand about your father. Actually, I like him a lot, old girl. But, regarding Meric Findlay, it’s up to you to assert yourself a little, or you’ll be trodden into the dust!’ Taking no notice of her small protesting gasp, he continued, ‘Didn’t your cousin Carlotte say that she and dear Findlay are off to Perth for the day? Well, while they’re away, how about you and me having a look around? Just see if you can get hold of a map, John must have one somewhere, and I’ll do the rest. It’s amazing what can be ferreted out with the aid of a good map and a little ingenuity.’
‘But, Tim ...’ Not liking his tone, Sue glanced back at him, startled. ‘I shouldn’t feel happy doing all this behind Father’s back, so to speak.’
‘But we’re not doing any harm, and no one need know, if it will make you feel any better,’ Tim argued. ‘Besides, if the others are out enjoying themselves, why shouldn’t you?’
Tim was goading her deliberately, Sue realized this. But when she reluctantly agreed to do as he suggested, it had nothing to do with the motive he had uppermost in mind. It was the thought of Meric and Carlotte spending the day together that prompted her to give her assent. She knew, in a moment of truth, that she couldn’t bear to be here brooding about them until they returned. And, as Tim said, there could surely be no harm in exploring the estate. When one thought about it rationally, perhaps he was right. She should have been taken around sooner.
In the end, however, it wasn’t altogether easy to approach her father, especially when she found it impossible to be completely frank. ‘I would just like to show Tim the district,’ she told him, when she went to his room. ‘I was wondering if you had a map of the area. Perhaps one showing the boundaries of Glenroden, just so I can point them out?’
A curious expression flitted across John’s tired face as he eased himself up in his bed. It wasn’t one of his good days. Carlotte, he said, had wearied him with her chatter, and he didn’t seem disposed to talk any more. Sensitive to his moods, Sue decided that if nothing else, it would be a good thing to take Tim away for a little while - while John rested. It was obvious, though, that he didn’t seem very pleased by her request for a map, and she wondered if he would rather she stayed by his side. But he refuted the idea when she put her doubts into words, although he still didn’t appear very happy about her previous suggestion.
‘You’d have been better,’ he said testily, ‘to have gone with Carlotte to Perth. There would have been more of interest to you there. I think Meric has most of the maps in the office, but if you look in the top drawer of that cabinet over there you might find a small one.’
‘I could always get one from the office, I suppose.’ Sue looked at the map dubiously when she found it. It was faded and somewhat tattered, and she could see at a glance that it wouldn’t be much help.
‘No, don’t do that!’ Her father surprised her by speaking quite sharply. ‘Don’t ever go there, Susan, without asking Meric first. I mean,’ he added, oddly hesitant, ‘I wouldn’t like you disturbing anything and perhaps giving him extra work.’
‘No, of course not.’ Sue, her eyes anxiously on his pale face, thought it better not to argue. ‘I won’t go near the office, but if you could just point out the boundaries on this, then we’ll be off. The rain has stopped, I can see.’
John, however, had turned away from her on to his side as if he couldn’t be bothered. ‘Just go, Susan, please. There are plenty of places you can visit without getting lost. Meric took you up the mountain, but I wouldn’t advise you going there today. If you were to get lost you’d soon find that Tim Mason is no Meric Findlay,’ he finished enigmatically.
Feeling slightly hurt, Sue departed. Why was her father always so reluctant to explain anything about Glenroden? It wasn’t as if she was ever very curious or probed, but if it was mortgaged up to the hilt, or something equally disastrous, he had only to tell her. Many estates went through bad times; it was nothing to be ashamed of. If it was something like this, at least it would squash her niggling suspicions that his secrecy had something to do with Meric. A transitory wave of self-pity smote her, as she went to collect her coat. Why couldn’t John consider her position more? It wasn’t easy when her heart refused to believe that Meric could do anything wrong, but her common sense told her otherwise.
‘We’ll take the Mini,’ she told Tim. ‘I still have it as one day I intend to get a job and will need it. The car, I mean,’ she tacked on hastily. She didn’t intend telling him that she needed a job rather desperately for some spare cash. He would only laugh.
Tim, fortunately, was too busy perusing the map to pay much attention to what she was saying. She doubted if he had even heard. To her surprise he was smiling in an altogether satisfied manner. Apparently, to him, the age and shabbiness of the map was no deterrent. ‘You ought to be keeping your eye on this little lot,’ he exclaimed, tapping the faded lines with one finger, ‘and not worrying about a job! As far as I can see your father owns a huge stretch of territory. No wonder Mr. Findlay doesn’t want you to know.’
‘Tim, please!’ In her agitation Sue changed gear too quickly on a corner, jerking them forward in their seats. ‘I’m sorry,’ she muttered through Tim’s warning shout. ‘But please don’t agitate me any more. If you insist on going on about Meric, then I’m going home!’
‘Okay, calm down.’ Tim’s eyebrows rose unrepentantly. ‘You know your mother relied on me to look after your interests. I’m only trying to point out one or two things, as I did before. It isn’t impossible, nor would it be the first time, that a man in your father’s state of health has been taken advantage of. ’
Sue remained mutinously silent. It was bad enough thinking things herself without having him put them into words. They were passing the river ford on their way to the loch, and Tim insisted on getting out at the caravan park.
‘Just for a quick look,’ he said, ignoring her glum face with a smooth smile. ‘I might even come here on holiday myself.’ He ran an e
xpert eye across the near row of vans.
Wincing, Sue watched him wandering about, her gaze straying behind him to the loch where the light wind blew ripples across the deep water. Where larch and pine flanked the white-sanded shore and the sky hung cloudless above it. Now that the rain had gone, the clearing skies would bring frost, a first taste of winter, and Sue shivered. What was winter like in the Highlands? she wondered. In her mind’s eye she saw the long, dark evenings, the cosy log fires, the isolation which must surely be part of winter in these parts. Her own position at Glenroden might be obscure, but such a picture more than made up for any feelings of insecurity. Winter here meant Meric and John, and Mrs. Lennox. She refused to think about Carlotte — and Tim would be gone.
When Tim returned from his tour of the caravans he seemed in excellent spirits and for the rest of the day remained in a good mood. Afterwards Sue was never quite sure how far they went. Tim, to her surprise, proved a first-class map reader, seemingly quite capable of guiding her through the wildest of places. If it hadn’t been for the faint, unexplainable uneasiness at the back of her mind she might almost have enjoyed herself.
At one place the road, no more than a rough track, went up through a sort of rocky canyon, running close to the edge of a deep ravine where they seemed to cling precariously to the cliff wall, and as they looked back they could see nothing but the tops of firs and the gleam of bright water far below.
‘You’d better keep your eyes on the road,’ Tim remarked dryly, as Sue caught her breath. ‘We should be nearly at the top, but I want to get there, not to the bottom again!’
On top the view proved well worth the perilous journey.
Beyond the loch, beyond the ridges, the background of mountains looked across at them, magnificent against the skyline. After careful consideration Sue decided she could see the mountain which she and Meric had climbed after the stag.
She told Tim about it. ‘It really was a wonderful experience,’ she said, and wondered why he gave her a funny look.
They walked back to the car which they’d left on the track. ‘Just a little further on,’ said Tim, putting a friendly arm about her shoulders, ‘we dip back down to the main road, then back to Glenroden. Are you satisfied with your day today?’
‘Umm.’ Not paying much attention, Sue glanced at him uncertainly. It seemed rather an odd way of putting it, but she supposed she was. ‘I’ve enjoyed the run around, if that’s what you mean,’ she found herself saying. ‘And I should never have managed it myself. ’
‘This is what I’ve been trying to tell you,’ he declared with emphasis. £I know we don’t see eye to eye about many things, but at least allow me to guide you in some. I don’t want to see you hurt.’
She gazed back at him blankly. ‘Hurt?’ she repeated.
‘Oh, never mind. It doesn’t matter!’ Appearing completely exasperated by her lack of co-operation, he slammed the car door. ‘Sometimes I wonder, Susan, if you’re being deliberately obtuse. It doesn’t do to place too much trust in the wrong person.’
‘Well, that’s plain common sense, of course, and I’ve surely got enough of that?’ Sue tried to keep the conversation in a lighter vein, but wasn’t sure she had succeeded when he asked abruptly:
‘Has John always been ill?’
Unprepared for his question, Sue replied with some confusion. ‘Yes. At least I think so, for these last few years at any rate. That’s what Doctor McRoberts told me. When I first arrived he’d hurt his ankle - Father, I mean, and that very same night he had a bad heart attack. He hasn’t really properly recovered since. Doctor McRoberts did say that the ankle and my turning up unexpectedly might have been culminating factors.’
‘This Doctor McRoberts doesn’t beat about the bush.’
‘I know, Tim, but I did ask him, and he gave me an honest answer. It wasn’t any use avoiding the issue anyway. I knew it was partly my fault. This is why I mustn’t be the cause of any further upset. It’s important to me that Father doesn’t suffer any more on my account.’
‘Enough said ...’ Tim shrugged impatiently. ‘You always did make a habit of blaming yourself for everything! I should have thought, regarding the circumstances, that you’d find it easier to settle down if you had everything cut and dried.’
‘In what way?’ Sue’s own voice was ringed with impatience.
‘Well, if I were you, I should make one definite attempt to regularize the situation without worrying John. There must be an agreement somewhere concerning Meric Findlay, possibly in the office, not even tucked out of sight. If you could find it, then you might know exactly how things stood. This estate is large, and I think with your father so ill you ought to feel some responsibility.’
Meric had rung while they were away. Mrs. Lennox had answered the telephone, and he had told her that Carlotte and he were staying in Perth to dine with friends. The same friends would run him home afterwards.
‘It would save Miss Craig a journey,’ Mrs. Lennox quoted. 'Fortunately,’ she added, ‘I hadn’t started to prepare anything, but then Mr. Findlay is always very considerate.’
He isn’t always, Sue muttered, half aloud, as she went upstairs to bed. After a light supper she had decided to have an early night, and had left Tim listening to the radio. There was no television at Glenroden. Meric made love to her, then scarcely spoke for days. He roused her feelings so that she couldn’t rest, and expected her to continue as if nothing had happened. So far as he was concerned probably nothing had! Men! She shrugged, with the careless lift of her shoulders attempting to hide an aching heart. How foolish she had been to imagine she could spend the winter at Glenroden. She would never survive! She must remember to ask Carlotte if she had heard anything more about the teaching vacancy she had mentioned. It might be necessary to get away sooner than she had thought.
A few days later Meric surprised her by announcing at breakfast that he had booked a table for four, for the following evening. ‘There’s a hotel near Pidochry,’ he said, unsmilingly, ‘which I think you might enjoy. Usually on a Saturday evening there’s entertainment of a sort thrown in.’ Tim perked up immediately, almost prepared to be civil. ‘It will make a change,’ he agreed. ‘Susan and I would like to go.’
Although Meric had addressed her, Tim obviously took it for granted that he was included in the invitation. In spite of a twinge of irritation at the way in which he included her in his answer, Sue couldn’t suppress a small smile as she watched him attack his bacon and eggs with renewed zest. The anticipated pleasure of an evening out had cheered him. He might not realize it yet, but the pace of life at Glenroden was, for him, too slow. In time the quietness would only bore him. Unlike herself he was more suited to life in a big, bustling city.
On the evening of the outing Carlotte arrived late, and it was after six before they started out for Pidochry. The autumn light was beginning to fade, but even so Sue enjoyed the change of scenery. She was surprised to find how quickly they arrived at the famous resort which lay in the beautifully wooded valley of the Tummel. To the east, Meric pointed out the mountains, faint shadows through the gathering darkness, and in the middle of the town the famous Clunie dam, part of the hydro-electric scheme with its fish-pass and observation chambers.
‘You must take Tim before he returns to London and show him around,’ he said smoothly, as they continued on through the town. ‘You’ll find more of interest there than you did on your tour of Glenroden.’
So he knew? Dismayed, Sue stared at the back of his strong dark head. Neither Tim nor she had mentioned where they had been, nor had they seen anyone who might have told him. When she had returned the map John hadn’t even asked if they had had a good days. With a faint tinge of colour to her cheeks she tried to imagine how Meric could have found out. Was there anything going on at Glenroden which he didn’t eventually hear about?
Carlotte broke the uneasy silence with a laugh, but she only managed to make things worse by saying, ‘Are you returning for Christmas, Mr. Mason? I
’m sure you would have fun, and Susan is going to be very lonely when you go back.’
Whatever Tim might have replied was lost as Meric swung abruptly through a pair of tall, wrought iron gates, jerking the car to a sudden stop in front of a large, imposing-looking hotel. ‘It stays open all the year round,’ he told them, as if anticipating Sue’s query. ‘But during winter months they rely quite a bit on local trade.’ He opened the car door and got out. ‘Come on in,’ he said.
Nothing loath, they allowed him to pilot them indoors. Carlotte and Sue went to leave their cloaks in the ladies’ room before joining the two men in the cocktail bar. Again Sue thought how splendid Meric looked in the kilt. He had a breadth of shoulder and height which made every other man in the room insignificant. Beside him she didn’t notice Tim at all.
As they were late they carried their drinks to the dining room. Sue sipped hers as she gazed around. It was a beautiful room with a tartan carpet and long wide windows, which during the daytime and the long summer evenings must provide wonderful views of the Scottish countryside.
She sat beside Tim, but Meric sat on her right and all through the varied, well-cooked meal she was aware of him - aware of him, it seemed, with every part of her being. Time and again her eyes were drawn to his darkly handsome face as if held there against her will. She had worn her black skirt, still all she had with her, but with it this time a soft clinging top of matching silk jersey with long sleeves and a low, rounded neckline which showed the pure, graceful lines of her throat and shoulders. Her heavy fair hair she had brushed until it clouded around her shoulders, spilling across her cheeks, giving her an occasional line of retreat.
Meric thought she looked attractive. She could see it in the appreciative gleam in his eyes as they rested on her slim figure, but he didn’t say so in so many words. Somehow she ached that he should. Tim had no such inhibitions, yet his openly expressed admiration proved no balm for her sore heart.
The Kilted Stranger Page 16