Waterfall Glen Read Online Free PDF Page A

asked.
    “Mr. Chisholm never bought any. You’ll notice that for yourself when you’re looking around the house. Miss Weir got one of those Fridgedaire things for the kitchen about twenty years ago, and a machine that washes clothes. But, other than that, not much has changed inside Greystane since before the war.”
    “I suppose it would be a shame if it had been modernized and turned into just another house inside,” Kate said.
    “It would be a terrible, terrible shame,” Finlay agreed. “That would be an awful thing to happen.”
    Smiling to herself at what was obviously Finlay’s idea of a subtle hint, Kate picked up the suitcase and started up the rest of the steps. The next time she looked up, it was to see an arch in the outer wall, framing a door of rough planks bound top and bottom by rusty iron strapping.
    “Just give it a shove, it’s not locked,” Finlay said when Kate reached the final step.
    She pushed the heavy old door. It swung open slowly, and she caught her breath at what was revealed. Cracked stone flagging led to an ivy-covered tower house twenty feet on each side and four storeys high. It had an ironstuddeddoor at its base, and a seemingly random scattering of tiny, deep-set four-paned windows on each floor.
    To the right a long, single-storey building was attached to the side of the tower, running almost all the way to the outer wall. It, too, had only small, square-paned windows.
    On either side of the path was a cobbled courtyard so overgrown that it was as much green as grey.
    Likewise, the inside of the castle walls and the open stairways leading up to the ruined battlements were covered in moss and ivy.
    “I don’t suppose you’ll have seen many places like this in California,” Finlay said.
    Kate shook her head, enchanted.
    Near one of the open stairways that led up to the ramparts a ragged notch in the walls came down almost to the highest step. Kate walked towards the staircase, wanting to glory in the view.
    “It’s very much the worse for wear, there’s no two ways about that,” Finlay said, thinking Kate wanted a closer look at the damage to the walls. “But I don’t think it’s beyond repair if someone was to really set their heart on it.”
    Kate barely heard his voice, let alone his words. She put her suitcase down on the flagstones and started climbing the stairs. Half-way up she paused, because the ruined cottage on the crag opposite had come into view in the notch in the walls.
    “I’m afraid the cottage doesn’t belong to you,” Finlay said, guessing what she was looking at. “ArchieCunningham’s had the devil of a job tracking down the man Mr. Chisholm left it to. There seems to be a bit of a mystery about him, which is quite appropriate given the history of the cottage. But that’s another story …”
    Again, Kate barely heard him. Her attention had been caught by the sound of rushing water. She hurried up the last few steps and gazed down at the whitewater river which flowed through the little hanging valley between the crags before tumbling into the glen below.
    “Wait till you see the view from the top of the tower,” Finlay called up to her.
    “It can’t be much better than this,” Kate said, captivated.
    “You can see a half a dozen other glens,” Finlay told her.
    “Are any of them half as beautiful as Glen Cranoch?”
    “Maybe to other people, but not to me,” Finlay said.
    Kate reluctantly tore herself away and went back down the stairs. As Finlay led the way up the path he gestured towards the long building to the right of the tower and said, “That’s the banquet hall. But before I show you that and the tower house we better stop off at the kitchen, if you don’t mind, because Miss Weir can’t wait to meet you. She’ll have my guts for garters if she finds out I’ve been showing you around the place before introducing you.”
    “She sounds quite formidable.”
    “Plain-speaking, is how I think you’d best describe her if you