Free Anna of Strathallan by Essie Summers Page A

were to wed in the district, they'd have her near them, always. Well, thank goodness they weren't matchmaking in Calum's direction.
    ' - They certainly moved fast in lambing-time at Strathallan. By the time she and Philip had scrubbed up at the sink on the back verandah, the lunch was on the table. Afterwards the dishes were piled on the bench so they could get back to the paddock.
    Kitty broke off mid-afternoon to go down to One-Mile Corner to collect the children from the school bus. Calum said, 'You don't have to, you know. Kit. It's a glorious day now. They could easily walk home. They so often do.'
    She said, appealingly, wanting his approval of her fussing, 'I'm probably a daft old woman, but I want no harm to come to them while they're under my care.'
    He grinned. 'Yes, I understand that. It's a big responsibility. How about taking Anna? She's done well, and must be finding a few muscles she's never known she possessed starting to ache bv now. Anna, we're giving you a spell.'
    She looked up, her hair blowing all over her head, the Drummond tartan covered with mucous, wool, milk, and worse, and said, 'Oh, please don't make me. I don't want to miss a bit of this. It makes me feel less an alien.'
    The look on his face was unreadable, yet she wished she hadn't said it. Their glances met, locked, held.
    He said, and she could have sworn he said it reluctantly, but felt he must be fair, 'I don't reckon we can count you as alien ... from the very start you got involved, didn't you, when you rescued two local residents and got them to hospital?'
    It seemed to put her at a disadvantage, as if she ought to depreciate what she ' d done. Then they heard a hail from the gate and swung round. Someone with a shambling gait was coming across the paddock. Anna blinked. The others didn't. They seemed to give a concerted groan, instantly suppressed, then Calum's whisper said, 'Oh, Lord preserve us! It's Barney. He'll be in a state of repentance.'
    He was also cold sober. She had to admire the way they received him. He apologized ... 'Because I was hardly myself, last night, causing you great inconvenience, not to say danger and injury, when you so kindly tried to ferry me home. When I think I might have had your death on my conscience, Calum, it's downright remorseful I am. So now I'm feeling less under the weather, I'm here to offer my services with the lambing. They told me at the hospital you were walking wounded and that you'd not got off as lightly as I did.'
    Kitty said, 'But how did you get here, Barney? Someone give you a lift?
    He waved grandly. 'No, it was pension day, so I took a taxi. I could do no less.'
    Calum said, 'Well, it was jolly decent of you. Sure we could do with your help. Kit's just off to collect the children, so we'll be a hand short.'
    Barney peered at Anna from under a shock of red hair gone grey. 'You'll be Alex's girl? They told me at the hospital - Sister Grey said Calum had told her this morning when she rang to find out how he was. Well, I'm glad for Kit and Gilbert's sake, they can sure do with someone of their own blood - and by the look of you, pitching in like this on your first day, it's better blood than his anyway. He and work never seemed to get on well together. That was my trouble - though I can manage fine if I keep off the booze. Not that he wasn't a darlin' lad. But like me, he was weak. But you've got a chin like your grandfather's.'
    Oh, dear, Barney was a clanger-dropper, but they must be so used to him they didn't turn a hair. And work he certainly did, and took a great fancy to Anna so that he stayed with her all the afternoon. He had a knack with the ewes and they seemed to know it. His hands were gentle, his eyes tender for the pain they bore, even if it was for a surprisingly short time.
    He stayed for dinner, and more clangers were dropped, but by Bill and Mac, who informed Barney, with great relish, that Anna had thought Calum was drunk too, because Barney's beer had soused him. He