Authors: Highland Fling
MacDrumin chuckled. “Am I to suppose you will spend the Sabbath quietly at Laggan then?”
Rothwell’s eyes glinted appreciation. “I’ve coaches to collect, and a coachman, but I may not spend any more time than necessary to collect them after what happened there. But I do take your meaning, sir. I mean to travel as fast as I can, and if that means traveling on Sunday, so be it. Maggie,” he added, turning to her, “I do want to talk more with your father. Please tell the Cheltons and James to prepare to depart at first light. We’ll take only what we can carry. The rest must be sent later.”
Still stunned by her father’s mild reaction to the notion of sheep replacing whisky in Glen Drumin, Maggie watched as the two men left the room together, and then, resigned to her fate, she went to do Rothwell’s bidding. Having given the necessary orders to the Cheltons, she went in search of James, finding him at last in the north parlor, standing in front of his easel.
Pausing in the doorway, for she knew he disliked showing his work before it was done, she told him what had happened, and when Rothwell meant to depart.
“The devil take Mama, and Ned, too,” James said. “I don’t know that I’m ready to leave, but at least these pictures are done. Come and have a look.”
She went at once, and when she saw the picture of the bothy with Rory, Dugald, and the others loading kegs on ponies in the foreground, she chuckled. “I like it,” she said, “but I think your brother will not care for it much.”
“Your father will like it. He’ll like this one better, though, or I miss my guess.” He took the first from the easel and replaced it with another. “Did I get it right?” he asked when she stared at it in amazement. “Kate suggested it. She said the laird had wished he could have a picture made of the scene and asked if I could do it, but I had only her memory and bits of my own to rely on for the faces. What do you think?”
Chuckling in appreciation, Maggie said, “Your magistrate is not nearly fat enough, and the Inverness court is not so much like the London one as you have made it, but you caught the look on Fergus Campbell’s face when they opened that keg of rotten herring just as cleverly as if you had stood there and watched it happen. Papa will love it!”
His expression altered swiftly as she spoke, from a frown to concentrated thought to a wide grin of satisfaction. He said, “That’s all right, then, and a good thing, too, because if I’ve got to leave in the morning, I must talk to Kate now. Did you tell Chelton to look after my gear?”
“I did.” As he moved to pass her, she added impulsively, “Will you try to take Kate with you, James?”
“Egad, no,” he said. “She would hate London. You ought to know that if anyone does.” He was gone before she could reply.
Leaving the packing to Maria, Maggie went for a walk, not caring who might know she had gone alone, for she wanted to be by herself, to drink in the sights and the sounds of her home before she must leave it, particularly since she had no way to know when, or even if, she would return.
When she joined the others for dinner, the first thing she discovered was that the discussion between Rothwell and her father had grown a bit less civil in nature, for as MacDrumin took his seat at the table, he said bluntly, “I am not at all convinced about this sheep business, lad. I still think you would do the folks of Glen Drumin a better service if you would convince the fools in Cloud-Cuckoo-Land to alter their laws so that we can return to the best of the old ways, at least.”
Taking his own seat, Rothwell shook his head with a weary smile, “Peace, sir, I meant no disrespect nor do I want another war of words with you. I know you want what is best for your people, just as I know that in the past you have done what you believed necessary to protect them and provide for them—”
“I could do a sight more to protect them had the government not done what it could to reduce my powers to zero,” MacDrumin said acidly, “but when I can no longer sit in judgment when a crime has been committed, when in fact I must depend upon bailies who are worse than—Ah, faith, I’ve said it all before.”
“So you have, but I wonder if at times you have not acted, at least in part, to vent your resentment of the situation. Do you not delight in pulling the government’s tail, sir, in revenge for that reduction in power you just mentioned?”
“And if I do, what of it?” MacDrumin said gruffly. “They deserve to have it pulled.”
Kate murmured, “’Tis my opinion that what’s done is done and best let be.”
James smiled at her, and when Kate smiled back, Maggie was astonished to see the warmth of her smile. Suddenly aware of a new current running between the two, a tension, a new rapport that set them apart, Maggie recognized it with a sense of shock as a dawning intimacy. James looked the same as ever, but Kate seemed softer, less prickly, and much more genial and compliant. There were roses in her cheeks, and she looked healthier and happier than she had in a good long while.
If Rothwell noticed the change in her, he had the good sense not to comment upon it. Instead, he said pacifically to MacDrumin, “Kate is right, you know.”
MacDrumin said bluntly, “I make it a point not to fight what I cannot change, lad, whatever you may think to the contrary, but running sheep will not support everyone like you think it will, and the work will interfere with what keeps us all from starving. As to resentment at having my powers reduced, you must have noted during your visit here that my powers in Glen Drumin have altered very little. ’Tis not on my own account that I act as I do.”
In the silence that followed this declaration, Maggie saw James shoot a wary glance at Rothwell and realized that she, too, was concerned about how he would choose to reply. The silence lengthened, but MacDrumin’s steady gaze did not waver. Finally, quietly, Rothwell said, “It is true that, as matters have transpired so far, you continue to wield a great deal of influence both over your people and over what might become of them in the future. In order to retain that influence, I suggest that you cease to rely upon continued defiance of the law to achieve your ends. I could state the matter more exactly, sir. I hope I shall have no cause to do so.”
The silence this time was nearly tactile. Even Kate did not dare to break it, and Ian riveted his attention to the plate in front of him. A log broke and fell on the hearth, the sound like the cracking of a whip. Maggie jumped, but neither Rothwell nor MacDrumin appeared to have heard anything. They continued to look steadily at each other. Finally, MacDrumin said, “I suppose a few of the lads might look into pasturing, but I don’t know where you think you will find enough sheep to make the business a profitable one.”
James quietly got up and went to the north parlor.
“You can leave finding the sheep to me,” Rothwell said. “Of course, if you know of a breed particularly suited to the area or learn of someone wanting to sell a good herd, you will use your own judgment. Consider also which crops besides barley grow well in Highland soil that it might be to our benefit to plant. I believe there is a great deal of money to be made here by those who can discover how to use the land for profit.”
“Perhaps you will prove right, lad,” MacDrumin said, adding when James returned with the paintings, “but what’s this, then?”
“A pair of parting gifts for you, sir,” James said.
When MacDrumin saw the picture of Fergus Campbell and the herring, he laughed with pure delight and soon recovered his natural exuberance; however, Maggie encountered his gaze several times before everyone began to retire, so she was not surprised when he drew her aside and said to Rothwell, “I want a moment with my lass to bid her farewell. You won’t mind, I know.”
Rothwell smiled at Maggie and said, “Not at all, sir. I know you will miss her sadly.”
“I will,” MacDrumin agreed. He waited only until the others had withdrawn before saying, “I will miss you, lass, though Kate has agreed to remain here and see to things after you go. In faith, it’s like another daughter she’s become. I don’t know how young James managed it, but she wants to be useful, and now that she’s given up lying in wait for Sassenachs to rob, it will do her good to have plain woman’s work to do. ’Tis a pity and all that you must live in London, but it will be for the best, I think. The wise learn many things from their enemies.”
“I do not think Edward is our enemy, Papa.”
“Aye, perhaps not, but you cannot teach a crab to walk straight, lass, nor an Englishman to think like a Scot.”
“Please, Papa, do not fight him anymore. You cannot win.”
“In faith, child, I shall not lose if you keep him safe in London where he belongs. I like the lad, but sheep? Still, what he does not see, he will not grieve over.”
“But he will know if you do not follow his instructions, and indeed, Papa, he cannot mean to remain in London forever. You must do as he wishes. I could not bear being married to him if bad blood erupted between the two of you.”
“Be easy, lass, I’ll do what I must, but I’ll not allow anyone hereabouts to starve whilst his lordship makes his plans and searches for sheep. Bah, sheep! Nasty, smelly creatures, and stupid, too. Our brave lads won’t take kindly to being told they must become shepherds. Aye, and that’s another thing your Edward don’t understand, Mag. Our lads enjoy running whisky. They love the business, aye,
and
the danger.”
“And you like tweaking the government’s tail, just as he said you do,” Maggie said, smiling at him. The twinkle in his eyes was response enough, but she felt her old fears rise again at the sight of it and said hastily, “Papa, do as he asks. I mean it, for if you are arrested and clapped up in the Tolbooth, I’ll … I’ll come home and snatch you baldheaded!”
He hugged her then and told her not to fret, assuring her that he would not be arrested, and though his words did little to reassure her they parted affectionately, and she went upstairs.
Kate startled her when she stepped out of the shadows and said, “Mag, dinna go to bed yet. I want to talk.” When Maggie followed her into the small room that had become her own, Kate barely waited for the door to be shut before she said, “I wish you were not leaving so soon.”
Maggie grinned. “You don’t care about me, Kate MacCain, so you can stop pretending. You did not grieve a whit when I went to London before.”
“But I knew ye … you were coming back. This time I don’t know how long you will be gone.” Kate looked anxious, but Maggie still was not fooled.
“Dear Kate,” she said, “I have seen how you look at James Carsley, and it is James you will miss, not me. Have you fallen in love with an Englishman, you daft girl?”
“I have not,” Kate said instantly, turning away to stare into the empty fireplace. “I trow, I’d not know love if it stepped into this room and shouted at me.”
“He is kind, is he not?” Maggie said gently.
“Aye, he is,” Kate agreed, turning back to look at her rather searchingly, “and when he is by, Mag, a lass feels like one of those princesses you used to tell about, from the books you read at school, and he the knight on the white horse who would ride through peril after peril to save her.”
“Good God,” Maggie said, shaking her head and doing her best to hide her amusement, “you will make me ill with such talk, Kate. A knight indeed! What will you say next?”
Kate flushed but said firmly, “I only said ’twas how he makes me feel, Mag. How you do take a person up!”
“And has James said aught about saving you?”
“Dinna keep on about that now. I wish I’d never said it.”
“I’m sorry I teased you,” Maggie said, “but has James spoken at all about the future?”
“He said he means to look after me,” Kate said simply, “and after Ian, too; and he will, Mag. For all that he is English, he is not one to promise and forget. I mean to wait for him.”
“You cannot think he means to marry you, Kate,” Maggie said gently. “His brother is an earl, after all.”
“I dinna care,” Kate said. “I’ll take him as he chooses.”
“Oh, Kate.” Maggie hugged her. She could not wish for such a relationship for Kate, or for anyone, being certain that only heartache could come of it, but she could say no more about it without upsetting Kate or unleashing her volatile temper, so she changed the subject and sat talking a little longer before she left to prepare for bed. Rothwell was waiting for her, and soon put Kate’s problems out of her mind entirely by keeping all her senses well engaged until they both fell fast asleep.
The following day when they were ready to depart, Kate was there to see them off, and Maggie noted how tenderly James kissed her and how fondly he tousled Ian’s hair. Although she believed James felt no more than a passing fancy for Kate, there was nonetheless something in the relationship he had developed with her that Maggie found appealing and even envied a little.
The sky was overcast, and a light drizzle began falling when they reached the head of the Corriearrack. Looking down through the mist at the steep descent and the bleak rolling hills beyond, it was as if, Maggie thought, they had stepped through a door at the top of the world, where except for the jingle and thud of harness and hoof, all was solitude and silence.
She had been following James with Rothwell beside her, and the Cheltons trailing behind. When James drew rein, the others gathered nearer and Maggie heard a sharp intake of breath, and Maria said faintly, “I cannot ride down that dreadful road. Only look at it, as steep as a wall, all zigzags and cliffs with water flooding over it everywhere. We’ll all be killed!”
“Don’t be foolish,” Maggie said sharply, having no patience today for the woman’s affectations and alarms. “The Corriearrack is never hospitable, Maria, but you rode up; you can certainly ride down. I have done so any number of times and in all sorts of weather. It is not at all frightening.”
“Not to you, perhaps,” Maria said crossly enough to show that in her fear she had forgotten her usual stiff courtesy, “but we were not all bred in this barbarous place, you know.”
“That will do, Maria,” Rothwell said, silencing her. He scanned the road ahead and turned to Maggie, saying, “Are you certain it is safe for riders in this weather?”