The Puzzle Ring Read Online Free PDF

a sense of relief. Her great-grandmother did not seem so scary!
    But Roz was exclaiming in surprise, ‘Linnet! How lovely! I wasn’t expecting to see you.’
    The old woman smiled broadly, her eyes disappearing into a net of wrinkles. ‘No doubt you thought I’d be dead and gone long ago.’
    â€˜No, no, I just meant—’
    â€˜No harm done, my lady. I was very old last time you saw me, and now I’m even older. Sometimes I surprise myself that I’m still tottering around!’
    â€˜Hannah, this is Linnet. She has been the cook here at Wintersloe for . . . well, for as long as your father could ever remember. He always used to say she cooked the best marmalade cake in the world!’
    â€˜Aye, Bobby loved his marmalade cake. I wondered if you’d remember. I made it for the wee one to have for her tea.’ She smiled at Hannah, who bit back a grin at the idea of this tiny woman calling her ‘the wee one’.
    â€˜Her ladyship is so pleased you’ve come. She’s been that cranky since she broke her leg. Come in! Where’s all your bags?’
    â€˜Allan MacEwan is going to bring them up from the village for us,’ Roz replied.
    Linnet shook her head sadly. ‘Och, the poor man. That Donovan leads him a merry dance, I can tell you. But come in, what am I doing leaving you on the doorstep? We can talk just as well in the house.’
    She flung wide the arched door, and let Hannah and her mother into a vast hall, its domed ceiling far above them. Light poured in through the great windows, illuminatingthe golden colour of the panelling and the gilded frames of immense pastoral paintings, so vast and lifelike it seemed they were windows onto another time. Hannah looked about her in amazement. Antlers were hung on the wall above the great stone fireplace, and shields and daggers lined the wide wooden staircase that lead in a great swoop to the upper floor. Hannah hugged herself in secret delight.
    â€˜But how’s all with you, Lady Fairknowe?’ the old cook said. ‘You’re too thin! I’ll have to be doing what I can to fatten you up! We’re having a feast tonight to celebrate your homecoming. I’ve made game soup, and roast grouse with skirlie, and bramble crumble, all your favourites, my lamb.’ Linnet pinched Hannah’s cheek affectionately. Hannah could only stare at her in amazement, having never heard of such dishes. Game soup sounded very odd, while Hannah had always thought ‘grouse’ meant to complain. And bramble crumble sounded positively dangerous!
    â€˜Let me take you in to see her ladyship, then I’ll bring you a nice cup of tea and a wee bite to eat. You must be starving.’ The old cook led them down a wide hallway, every spare inch of the walls decorated with paintings of mountains and moors and stags and stormy seascapes.
    Hannah barely had time to glance about her before Linnet was knocking on a panelled door. Without waiting for an answer, she opened the door and led Hannah and her mother into a large drawing room that looked out over the garden. Hannah received a confused impression of warmth and colour and richness, but all her attention was concentrated on the woman who sat upright in a wheelchair by the fire.

Lady Wintersloe

    Lady Wintersloe was long and thin and very elegant, dressed in a green woollen suit with a cameo brooch pinned to one lapel. A newspaper was folded on the table beside her and she held a fountain pen in one long, manicured hand. Unlike most old ladies Hannah had seen, her hair was not cut short, but smoothly coiled into a knot at the back of her head and secured with a tortoiseshell comb. It was a silvery-gold colour. High cheekbones gave the impression of hollowed cheeks on either side of a long, patrician nose. Her eyebrows had been carefully drawn in with a pencil, and she wore powder, blusher and lipstick, very bright against her withered skin. A