Land of Heart's Desire by Catherine Airlie Read Free Book Online

his eyes. “The sale of Ardtornish has enabled me to pay my debts with a sufficient margin left over for me to indulge a whim or two,” he added.
    “You mean the shark fishing?” She looked doubtful until she realized that it was a whim which would keep him by her side, at least for the remainder of the summer. “Archie Campbell still has his boat,” she added eagerly, “although it has been out of action for a while, Rory says.” She paused, thinking about Rory, wondering if the brothers had already met. “Hamish,” she asked, “have you seen Rory?”
    “Not yet.” He put his arm about her shoulders in a comradely way as they turned towards the house. “I realize that I am not too popular in that direction just now, but what could I really do about Ardtornish? Come to think of it,” he mused idly, “what would Rory have done if he had been in my place and not just the critical second son?”
    The thought that Rory would have fought to the bitter end, fanatically, seemed like treason and Christine pushed it determinedly to the back of her mind, feeling its disloyalty all the more as Hamish turned to smile at her. “Well,” he demanded, “are you ganged against me, too?”
    “You know I’m not!” she protested. “How could I be?”
    “Easily enough, I should say.” He tightened his arm a fraction, drawing her close. “Most people have taken it upon themselves to criticize me. Even Jane.”
    “Jane was passionately fond of Ardtornish,” Christine said slowly. “But she was fond of you, too, Hamish.”
    “Yes,” he agreed. “Jane has taken it all pretty hard, but she’ll get over it. I met her in Edinburgh a week ago, still looking for a suitable job.”
    “Rory said she was taking a secretarial course.”
    “I believe so.” He didn’t seem very sure or particularly interested. Perhaps Jane had hurt him too deeply. “She hopes to come north for your birthday party. You see, she is taking her ‘bidding’ for granted, as I have done!”
    “You knew that you were quite sure of an official invitation!” Christine smiled, made happy by the very fact that he was walking by her side. “It will be like old times, Hamish. Do you remember when you had your coming-of-age—”
    She broke off, appalled by her own thoughtlessness in stressing the fact of his loss in the memory of happier times.
    “You were only eleven then,” he grinned at her, helping her over the embarrassment of a difficult moment with accustomed ease. “You hadn’t quite made the grade of grown-up parties, but I do remember Jane and you in white frocks and pigtails sitting on the stairs and eating ice-cream till you were too sick to be presentable!”
    She leaned her head back against his arm and the sound of their laughter echoed through the pine-scented air. When they came to the house she was glad that it looked welcoming, with its open door and its air of waiting there for just this moment, so that he might not be too keenly aware of returning to Croma as the dispossessed.
    Watching him as he strode through the hall, where he had been a familiar figure long ago, she thought how easily and gracefully he wore the kilt and how effectively he had managed to disguise his heartache over Ardtornish.
    In spite of his brave words, however, she knew how bitter he must feel. It was not, perhaps, the same bitterness as Rory’s, but it surely went as deep. After all, Hamish had been brought up from infancy to consider himself the heir, so that this might almost be a deadly blow.
    It was not quite the same in her own case, she mused, as she followed him. She had come upon her own inheritance unexpectedly, as the result of war, but already she was beginning to realize what hereditary obligations really meant.
    “Have you been to see my grandmother?” she asked.
    He nodded.
    “I’ve already paid my respects. She wants us to have tea with her, by the way.” He turned as Mrs. Crammond, the housekeeper, came from the direction of the