Anne Douglas Read Online Free Page A

train steamed in. ‘Got your bags, then?’
    ‘Got the kitchen stove, it feels like,’ Lynette answered. ‘Monnie, did you put our sandwiches in?’
    ‘Sure I did. I’m going to have mine soon as we set off.’
    ‘Comfort food, eh?’
    ‘Could do with a bit of comfort.’
    Monnie was already hurrying down the platform after her father, looking for their compartment. ‘Found our seats, Dad?’
    ‘Aye, this is us. Give me your cases, then.’
    Settling into their seats, watching the platform slide past after the guard had waved his flag, the Foresters were catching their breath.
    ‘Goodbye, Edinburgh!’ Frank suddenly called out.
    But the girls seemed unable to speak.

Five
    Leaving the train at Inverness, they were thankful they were booked in for bed and breakfast and needn’t travel on. Already the evening was growing dark and cold. Very cold.
    ‘Why so arctic?’ Lynette asked, as Frank led the way grandly to the taxi queue.
    ‘And are we really splashing out on another taxi?’ asked Monnie.
    ‘Questions, questions,’ Frank laughed. ‘Why so arctic? Well, some do think that Inverness has the coldest winters of any city in the UK, couldn’t say if it’s true. And are we taking a taxi? Yes, we are. This guest house I’ve booked is a fair step and we’ve cases to carry. No need to look so worried, Monnie, we’re not running out of cash yet.’
    ‘If you say so,’ she murmured, as a taxi drew up and they settled into its shelter from the chill of the wind. ‘But I’m just so glad you thought of doing this, Dad. Couldn’t have faced trying to get to the hostel tonight, could we?’
    ‘No, and we’d have been pretty late, meeting the outgoing warden. The other good thing is that this way we get to travel by daylight on the Kyle of Lochalsh line – and that’s got some of the best scenery in Scotland. Wait till you see it.’
    After booking into Mrs Danby’s comfortable little guest house, they went out for a fish supper and afterwards to the pictures. Monnie’s idea, though she admitted before the start of Hitchcock’s Vertigo that she’d never dreamed her father would come too.
    ‘Thought sure you’d want to go to bed early to be ready for tomorrow,’ she told him. ‘I mean, it’s all any of us can think about, eh?’
    ‘Och, it’ll do us good to relax,’ he answered easily. ‘And this sounds like a good film.’
    ‘The last we’ll see for a long time,’ Lynette remarked, sighing. ‘I bet there’s no cinema where we’re going.’
    ‘There’s a mobile cinema of some sort. Comes round in the summer.’
    ‘Oh, well then!’ Lynette laughed, then sighed again. ‘Makes you wonder what there’ll be to do, though. For entertainment.’
    ‘There’ll be dances, I expect,’ Monnie said. ‘Ceilidhs and such. Kilts flying, eightsome reels, that sort of thing.’
    ‘Can’t wait!’ Lynette leaped up, rattling coins in her hand. ‘There’s the ice-cream girl. Who wants one?’
    They all had one, and as the lights dimmed and the film began, settled down to enjoy scraping out their tubs with their miniature wooden spoons, while watching the first shots of Jimmy Stewart looking worried in Vertigo , their new life for the moment very far away.
    Next morning, it was porridge for breakfast, followed by kippers and buttered toast, all eaten in the church-like atmosphere of the guests’ dining room, where the only sounds came from the scrape of cutlery and the stout waitress’s murmur, ‘Coffee or tea?’
    ‘Any chance of us nipping out to see Loch Ness before we go?’ Lynette asked, risking a whisper. As her father stared, she smiled and shook her head. ‘Only joking. I know we’ve got to get that early train.’
    ‘You’re right,’ Frank said, rising. ‘Let’s get going. I’ll pay the bill.’
    But in the hallway, out of hearing of the nosey, middle-aged landlady standing ready at her desk, Lynette touched his arm.
    ‘Dad, you don’t need to pay for us, you know. We’ve