Anne Douglas Read Online Free Page B

got some money.’
    ‘Aye, we’re grown up now,’ Monnie told him. ‘Earning money and all.’
    ‘ Were earning money,’ he said seriously. ‘Look, it’s upsetting to me that you lassies have given up your jobs. I’m not short, I can manage till I get paid, so you hang on to any cash you’ve got till you’re settled.’
    The sisters exchanged glances.
    ‘Knew you’d never agree,’ Lynette murmured. ‘But we both brought some savings, so we could help out.’
    ‘And very thoughtful you were, but let’s leave it for now, eh?’ He smiled. ‘Tell you what, you could pay for the taxi to the station if you like. Hurry up and pack and I’ll get Mrs Danby to ring for one.’
    Upstairs, in the twin bedroom they’d shared, the sisters rapidly packed their overnight bags, before putting on coats and boots and doing a last check round.
    ‘No snow out there, but it looks bitter,’ Lynette remarked from the window. ‘Wish I could’ve worn my red suit, but it’s far too cold.’
    ‘Who on earth is going to see you in your red suit?’ Monnie asked. ‘There’ll only be the warden who’s leaving and maybe some young folk at the hostel.’
    ‘Why, you never know who you might meet, Monnie. And first impressions count, you know. I always like to cut a dash. Knock ’em dead, as they say.’
    ‘You’re best off in that coat you’ve got on. I’ll bet you any money, this Kyle train won’t be heated.’
    ‘And I’ll not take you on. Folk up here, they’ll think it’s only softie Lowlanders like us who expect heating.’ Lynette pulled on a dark blue woollen hat to match her winter coat and gathered up her cases. ‘Still, Dad said the scenery’s lovely, so come on, let’s see it.’
    It turned out that Monnie was right about the heating on the Kyle of Lochalsh train, but then Frank was right, too, about the scenery. Yes, the train was cold, so cold that the passengers never attempted to remove coats or even gloves on the two-hour journey, and if the carriages were clean enough, they were somewhat spartan where comfort was concerned. But directly the train had left Inverness and begun its journey towards the Black Isle, which was really a peninsula, rather than an island, the scenery was casting its spell.
    ‘You said it’d be lovely, Dad,’ Lynette murmured, as they left Dingwall, their first stop, and branched away west. ‘And you were right.’
    ‘I was,’ Frank agreed, looking towards a distant line of snowy mountains beneath a wide bowl of clear, chill sky. ‘And, hey, do you see the deer?’
    ‘Where?’ Monnie cried, and smiled as she saw the deer hurrying from the noise of their train. ‘Ah, they’re so close, eh? Why, there’s everything here. Hills and water and wildlife.’
    Wildlife to match the wildness of the landscape was the thought that came to mind, as the girls continued to gaze, fascinated, at the country that was so new to them, yet looked as though it had existed for ever. Long, long before Edinburgh had even been thought of, all this would have been here. These hills, these stretches of silent water, this countryside so empty it seemed as if only the deer and the wheeling birds could know it. Beautiful, solitary land.
    It was, the girls secretly felt, so different from the streets of home as to be almost alien. How would it compare to the place they were going? As Frank rustled his map, they remained quiet, still keeping their eyes on the views from the train, relieved, in a way, whenever they came to tiny stations. Here, at least, were signs of life.
    ‘I think this is Loch Carron we’re looking at now,’ Frank said at last. ‘Homeward stretch, girls! Not too far now to Kyle.’
    ‘Not the end of the journey, though,’ Monnie commented. ‘We’ve still to get a bus.’
    ‘Yes, but we can have something to eat first.’
    ‘And coffee!’ Lynette said cheerfully. ‘Oh joy! Think I might just make it to the hostel if I get the tank filled.’
    ‘You’re like Popeye