Moreton's Kingdom by Jean S. Macleod Page B

‘You’ll be meeting him as soon as you’ve had a meal. He doesn’t come to the house at lunchtime because he can’t walk that distance more than once a day. He has the electric wheelchair, of course, but he’s stubborn about using it. Like all men, he thinks it diminishes his dignity in some way or other. We’re always telling him it won’t be for ever, but I don’t think he believes us. Even Dr. Farquharson has a job with him at times, though he’s much better than he was in the beginning. You’ll like Mr. Fergus,’ she concluded with a smile. ‘Everybody does.’
    They climbed a wide flight of stairs adorned by a red carpet which shone like a ruby against the dark mahogany of the panelled walls, and Katherine wanted to ask Mrs. Stevas a thousand questions, although she knew that not all of them would be answered. Instead, she concentrated on the layout of the house which could become her prison for a number of days.
    The stairs went up to a wide landing where they branched right and left to the upper storey of the house along a corridor with doors on either side.
    ‘Glassary is a very old house,’ Mrs. Stevas explained, ‘but this is the sunnier side. The family always slept here when they were at home, but now it’s mainly for guests.’
    Katherine wanted to laugh out loud at the misnomer, since she was far from considering herself a guest.
    ‘We’re a long way from the main road,’ she suggested instead. ‘Glassary is really isolated. My car broke down,’ she hurried on to explain, although she had a strong suspicion that Mrs. Stevas knew all about her odd adventure. ‘It was too late to have it towed to a garage last night, but I’m hoping something can be done with it quickly. You see,’ she added carefully, ‘I’m on holiday and I had hoped to get to the Trossachs this morning.’
    ‘You’re not so far away from them.’ The housekeeper opened a stout mahogany door near the end of the corridor, ‘You’ll be quite comfortable here in the meantime.’ Some of Charles’s determination had tinged her voice. ‘There’s no need for you to feel isolated,’ she added cheerfully. ‘There’s plenty to do at Glassary if you have a mind to look for it.’
    The words might have been some kind of warning, yet Katherine felt that Mrs. Stevas could easily be won over.
    ‘If there’s anything more you might need just ring the bell,’ she said, turning to go. ‘Jamie will bring up your suitcase in a wee while and lunch is at one o’clock. It’s a meal everybody pleases theirselves about—generally cold venison or salmon because the men are out—but they manage to make up for it at dinner time! Mr. Fergus is in by then, too.’
    Wondering about ‘everybody’, but not prepared to ask, Katherine inspected her room. Although somewhat forbidding with its heavy Victorian furniture standing round the walls and a large half-poster bed dominating the centre of the floor, it was completely adequate, and there was a smaller apartment leading off it which she discovered to be a bathroom. Quite a modern bathroom, she noted, with a handy shower and glazed waterproof curtains tucked into the bath.
    All mod. cons! she thought whimsically, although she was half inclined to look for a barred window.
    Maybe if I had a strong sense of humour I’d be able to see the funny side of all this, she thought, as she crossed the bedroom to look out of the casement window to the hills. No need for bars, she decided, seeing the long drop to the gravelled drive beneath her.
    When she had washed her face and tidied her hair she went back to the window as if drawn there inevitably. It was the only way of finding her bearings and working out her escape.
    The short gravelled drive held out its arms to embrace the lawn with the wooden bridge which spanned the narrow neck of water behind it, while beyond the bridge the gravelled approach road led eventually to the road through the glen. There was nothing complex about it, but