Free Cauldstane by Linda Gillard Page B

coffee.’
    ‘Sit down and I’ll pour you some.’ He stood up and brought a chair forward and placed it in the doorway. ‘If you sit just there, you’ll have a good view of the roofline of Cauldstane. On a day like today, you might see a red kite if you’re lucky.’ He looked at me, checking I understood. ‘Not the kind flown by wee boys.’
    ‘ I know,’ I said, smiling as I stepped inside the summer house which was warm and musty and seemed rather dark after the bright sun outside. I sat down on the chair Alec had arranged for me. ‘I have a friend who’s a keen birdwatcher and some of it’s rubbed off. He was quite jealous when I told him I’d seen a kite at Cauldstane.’
    ‘They’re magnificent creatures. The wing span is almost two metres. You don’t notice that from the ground.’ Alec poured me a mug of coffee and said, ‘Milk and sugar?’
    ‘Just milk, please. ’ He handed me the mug, then as he picked up a plate, I raised my hand in protest. ‘Don’t even think of offering me one of those biscuits! My willpower is non-existent when it comes to Mrs. Guthrie’s home baking.’
    ‘Resistance is futile,’ Alec said as he took a biscuit from the plate. ‘How’s it going with Sholto? He seems to be enjoying himself.’
    ‘You think so?’ I tried to ignore the tempting crunching noises and averted my eyes from the biscuits.
    ‘H e’s in his element, re-living the past, dusting down the old traveller’s tales. And it’s doing him a power of good. We’re very grateful to you.’
    ‘Oh, it’s nothing to do with me. I just sit there with the tape recorder.’
    ‘It’s everything to do with you that he’s enjoying himself. He wasn’t looking forward to it. And we all had mixed feelings about raking over the past.’
    ‘ There is rather a lot of past, isn’t there?’
    ‘Hundreds of years. But if you just look at Sholto’s three score years and ten, there’s a hell of a lot of ground to cover. Some of it pretty bumpy. That he’s prepared to do it and appears to be enjoying the process is a testament to your tact and encouragement, Jenny.’
    ‘Thank you.’
    ‘You sound surprised.’
    ‘I suppose I am a little.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Well, I don’t think I can take all the credit.’
    ‘And?…’
    ‘And?’
    He narrowed his eyes and said, ‘There’s something else you’d like to say, but you’re not sure you should.’
    I laughed to hide my surprise and embarrassment. ‘Am I that easy to read?’
    ‘In some ways, yes. In others, no.’
    I waited for Alec to continue, but he just sat drinking his coffee, regarding me, as if waiting for me to speak. The silence was becoming awkward, so I took a biscuit from the plate and bit into it, playing for time. I chewed and swallowed, then said, ‘Well, if I’m being honest—’
    ‘Why be anything else?’
    I broke off some small pieces of biscuit and tossed them outside where some chaffinc hes were strutting on the path. ‘I suppose I wasn’t really expecting your approval.’
    ‘Why not? This project is good for Sholto. And if the book sells in sufficient quantities, it could help with some of our financial difficulties. Has he told you just how bad things are?’
    ‘No , but he’s dropped hints.’
    ‘You’ll find it hard to get him to talk about it. Well, I do.’ Alec studied the contents of his mug. ‘But things are bad. Fergus thinks we should put the castle on the market. For three million.’
    ‘But it’s your inheritance!’
    ‘Aye, but Fergus is our business brain – the only business brain in the family – and he says Cauldstane’s a money pit. And he’s right. Which is why we’d never get three million for it. But my hope was not to have to sell up in Sholto’s lifetime. That’s where your book might help, you see. A wee cash injection could buy us a bit of time, enable us to maintain the fabric of the building so it would still be worth selling after Sholto’s gone.’
    ‘T hat’s all so sad. I