The House of the Laird Read Online Free PDF

time up, they ’ re smiling at you. ”
    “ But Mrs. Burns says there ’ s plenty of time for snow yet, ” she told him, rather sombrely. “ In fact, she ’ s expecting it. She ’ s expecting Craigie to be cut off by snow. ”
    He turned with a kind of half smile.
    “ Oh, Mrs. Burns! She loves to be a little dramatic. But does the thought of being imprisoned in Craigie by snow fill you with any sort of alarm? ”
    “ No. ” She shook her head to emphasize the negative, but she met his eyes squarely at the same time. “ However, I mustn ’ t think of remaining here for much longer, must I? I ’ ve already inflicted myself on you for a week, and that was something you never expected when you met me for the first tim e outside King ’ s Cross station. ”
    “ Maybe not, ” he agreed, dropping down on to the cushioned window-ledge and thrusting his hands into his pockets. “ But talking of King ’ s Cross station—how often have you visited Craigie before? And when was the last time you were here?
    “ Oh, not for several years. ” Her eyes smiled a wistfully, a little reminiscently, as she recalled that last occasion. “ But I ’ve always loved it, and thou gh t it the most enchanting spot in the world. But the odd thing is, ” gazing at him in perplexity, “ that I don’t remember ever seeing or hearing of Craigie House before. If Nannie mentioned it—and she must have done—it left no impression on my mind. Perhaps that ’ s because you were not living here at the time. I ’ m quite sure I would have remembered you if I ’ d seen you, even if I was only small ” —looking faintly abashed because his eyes became amused —“ or I ’d have been puzzled by a lik e ness— ”
    “ I don ’ t really think that ’ s very likely, ” he answered, the amusement in his voice as well. “ One has to allow for the fact that when you were last here there were still a good many years between us, and we do alter as we grow older, you know. And, in any case , m y family were not very addicted to Craigie in the first flush of my own youth, and we only came here for holidays a s a rule. ”
    She looked about her at the large room, with its garlanded ceiling, its wide white fireplace, and other graceful features.
    “ It ’ s beautiful, ” she said, still more wistfully. “ I can ’ t imagine anyone not wanting to live here. ”
    “ I alw a ys think that when I come back to it after an absence, ” he admitted. “ Especially after a prolonged absence. ”
    There was silence for a few moments, and then he leaned a little towards her, his hands removed from his pockets and clasped between his knees.
    “ I haven ’ t bothered you before this because I thought you ’ d rather be left alone with Mrs. Burns until you felt stronger. But I do want to have a little talk with you about—yourself! ”
    He sensed rather than observed her instant reaction to this—something inside her tensing itself, becoming taut and anxious, perhaps a little on the defensive.
    “ Y-yes? ” she stammered.
    Mackenzie ’ s smile at her was intended to do away with that tension and enable her to relax.
    “ You do realize that you were heading straight for pneumonia again that night when you arrived at Inverlochie? ”
    She nodded, and swallowed something in her throat.
    “ The doctor seemed to think I should have had a second dose of it. ”
    “ And old Moffat knows what he ’ s talking about. He ’ s a good doctor. One of the best. And he thinks you ’ ve got to be handled very carefully. ”
    “ But that ’ s absurd ” —she felt herself flushing painfully— “ quite absurd. I ’ m not really in the least delicate, only I happened to neglect a chill, and that sort of thing happens to lots of people. It ’ s the time of year when one develops chills, and I can ’ t wrap myself up in cotton wool. ”
    “ But until you ’ re a little bit stronger, at least , someone will have to wrap you up in cotton wool, or a