The Eyes of Love Read online

  “If he wants to get well, that will be half the battle,” Vara ventured.

  She looked at the Minister and asked,

  “What do the doctors say are the chances of his regaining his sight?”

  “I have talked to Dr. Adair,” the Minister said, “who has the reports from the specialists in London. He told me that the Earl’s case is a very strange one.”

  “Strange? In what way?” Vara asked.

  “Well, apparently they cannot find anything wrong with his eyes. It is just that the Earl cannot see!”

  “But there obviously is something very wrong,” Vara remarked.

  “If you ask me,” Lady McDorn chipped in, “I think most doctors are very much behind the times. I am always reading in the newspapers of operations that have gone wrong and it is obvious that men who are wounded in battle are not treated in the way that they should be.”

  “I agree with you,” the Minister replied, “but I suppose Medical Science does its best.”

  “I should not be surprised,” Lady McDorn went on, “if the good Scottish air and proper food do not cure him better than anything else.”

  “I can only hope you are right,” the Minister sighed. “In the meantime you must forgive me for stealing away your daughter when she has just come back home. But I do know that you will understand.”

  “Nothing,” Vara chimed in, “is more important than to make the new Chieftain behave himself.”

  The Minister laughed.

  Then he said,

  “That is not the way that I would express it myself, but I agree that it is something very important at this moment.”

  Vara rose to her feet.

  “I will go and pack the things I will need,” she said, “but I do not promise to stay long. I have been so looking forward to being back here with Papa and Mama.”

  “Of course you have, my child,” the Minister said. “I hate to be a nuisance, but there was no one else I could turn to.”

  “I will tell you one thing,” Vara said as she reached the door, “there are some fine horses in the stables at The Castle and, unless someone has taken them away, I shall find them very enjoyable when I am off duty.”

  The Minister’s eyes twinkled.

  “I am sure you are right, Vara, and they will need exercise. It would not take you long to ride home to see your father and mother.”

  “That is exactly what I was thinking,” Vara replied, “and, if his Lordship says in English that I am not to do so, that is something I shall certainly not be able to understand!”

  The Minister laughed again as she closed the door behind her and ran up the stairs two at a time.

  She could not help thinking that it was an adventure to be going to The Castle as a guest rather than just as a visitor.

  Even before she had left to go to England, her father and mother had ceased to visit the old Earl and, if they had done so, he would not have recognised them.

  Ever since she was a small girl, she had thought that The Castle was incredibly exciting if rather frightening.

  Standing firm and overlooking the Bay, it had repelled the Vikings when they invaded Scotland from the other side of the North Sea.

  According to the history books the Clansmen had proved to be so ferocious that the land belonging to the McDorns had been left untouched.

  Further North the Picts had taken refuge in caves and had hidden until the Viking ships had left carrying off sheep and cattle.

  They had left an intriguing legacy behind them too of fair-haired children with blue eyes, whose descendants so many generations later looked remarkably like the Vikings.

  The Earls of Dornoch had inspired their Clan to fight fiercely to preserve their women and their possessions.

  This was the reason why the Clan had been so respected all down the centuries and they were reputed to hold their heads higher than any of their neighbours.

  ‘Surely the new Earl must be aware of all this fascinating history?’ Vara asked herself.

  She packed quickly all that she required for a stay at The Castle of no more than a week.

  Before she had left England she had bought some very pretty gowns with the money left her by her aunt.

  She had not been extravagant, but at the same time she knew that her father and mother would like her to look her best.

  So she did not feel that it was wrong to spend a little of the money on herself.

  She felt that she had really earned it over the months when she had nursed her aunt so diligently.

  However, there would be no one at The Castle, she thought wistfully, to see her in her elegant gowns that she had bought to wear at dinner parties.

  She changed into a dress in a pale shade of blue with a short jacket in which to travel to The Castle and the hat that went with it had been bought in Bond Street at one of the more fashionable dress shops.

  Her cousin with whom she had stayed in London for a few days before travelling home had told her that her outfits were exceedingly becoming.

  “You should stay with us, Vara dear,” she said. “I know of some charming young men who would love to meet you.”

  “I must go home to Papa and Mama,” Vara replied, “but, please, ask me again in a month or so because there is so much I want to see in London.”

  “You shall certainly see everything,” the cousin promised. “Just tell me when you have had enough of the bonny purple heather and your bedroom here will be waiting for you.”

  Vara had kissed her cousin.

  On her way North she had thought that it would be very exciting to spend a few weeks in London.

  She wanted to go to the theatres and the Opera and, most important of all, to a ball.

  The girls at her school had talked a lot about their ‘coming out’ balls and the numerous parties that to that they had been invited to.

  They all had a special ambition to be invited to Marlborough House.

  Edward, Prince of Wales and his love affairs with lovely women like Lillie Langtry were whispered about at the school.

  Vara, like many of her friends, could not help wondering if she would ever be beautiful enough to attract a Prince or even a Duke.

  However she told herself it was certainly something that would not happen as long as she was far away in Scotland.

  There the Princes and Dukes were few and far between.

  Unless one was lucky enough to live in the fair City of Edinburgh when the Duke of Hamilton would entertain a Royal guest.

  At the same time Vara was not like some of the other girls intent on being admired and pursued by handsome gentlemen.

  She found so many other interests in the various subjects that she had studied over the years of her intense education.

  Books had revealed to her a very different world from the one that she lived in.

  At the moment every day was a brand new adventure with something she might learn or something to discover.

  She reflected to herself as she finished her packing that, when she had just come home, looking forward to being with her father and mother, she had never imagined that anything like this would suddenly happen to her.

  She went down the stairs to find her father and the Minister still with a glass of sherry in their hands.

  Her mother was saying,

  “Is it really correct for Vara to stay at The Castle without a chaperone?”

  “I have thought about that,” the Minister answered, “but have you forgotten that Mrs. Bryden is there.”

  “Of course,” Lady McDorn said, “how foolish of me. But she is such a retiring woman that I always think of Mr. Bryden as a bachelor.”

  The Minister smiled.

  “Many people make that same mistake, but Mrs. Bryden likes being alone and she was determined that her rooms at The Castle should be inviolate.”

  They all laughed.

  They knew the story of how Mr. Bryden, as a young man, had approached the old Earl when he wished to be married.

  He
had then been informed that it was absolutely forbidden in any circumstances for him to live outside The Castle.

  “I need you and I want you here with me,” the Earl had stipulated firmly.

  He could be very ferocious when he wished and most definitely intimidating.

  Mr. Bryden, however, had stood his ground.

  “I am sorry, my Lord, if this means I have to leave your service.”

  “Leave my service?” the Earl thundered. “I have never heard such damned nonsense! Of course you cannot leave my service. I trust you and you suit me. You will stay here if I have to lock you up in one of the dungeons!”

  Mr. Bryden had laughed and then capitulated.

  “I intend to be married, my Lord,” he said, “but, if it does not suit you that I should have a cottage on the estate, which is what I had hoped for, I could perhaps have one of the Towers for myself and my future wife.”

  The Earl considered this for a moment and then agreed.

  There were four Towers, one at each corner of The Castle. The rooms within them rose one to each storey, but they could be made extremely comfortable and most certainly provide a picturesque and original home.

  Mrs. Bryden, who was a local woman of over thirty, had accepted the situation because there was really no alternative.

  She, however, had made it perfectly clear that her home was her own and intruders were barred.

  Mr. Bryden had therefore continued as secretary to the Earl, which meant that he coped with everything, the large estate as well as The Castle.

  Because his wife was so retiring and her Tower was certainly her Castle, it was easy for most people to forget that she existed.

  “Yes, of course, Mrs. Bryden is there,” Lady McDorn said, “and I am sure, dearest Vara, should you need any advice or help she will be willing to assist you as best she can.”

  “I shall be all right, Mama. Don’t worry about me,” Vara answered, “and I have every intention of riding home every day to tell you what is happening at The Castle.”

  “You will have to ask his Lordship’s permission first,” Lady McDorn warned her,

  She spoke a little anxiously because there was a glint in her daughter’s eyes, which told her that Vara intended to get her own way.

  She had a strong determination which she had inherited from her father and the General had acquired a reputation when he was in the Army of winning every battle in which he was engaged.

  The reason was that he never knew when he was beaten.

  Even as a very small child, Vara had shown her determination.

  As her mother had once said,

  “You can persuade her by love but never by force.”

  Now, as Lady McDorn looked quizzically at her daughter she thought that, even in the months during which she had been away, Vara had grown more beautiful.

  Her fair hair with just a touch of red in it accentuated the whiteness of her skin and she never seemed to burn with the sun.

  Her eyes were very large and green with a touch of gold in them.

  They seemed to fill her small pointed face, so that anyone meeting her remembered her eyes more than anything else about her.

  ‘She is really beautiful,’ Lady McDorn thought and could not help feeling that it was a pity that the Earl would not be able to see her.

  Then she told herself severely that this was no time for matchmaking.

  Anyway it was extremely unlikely that the Earl of Dornoch would be interested in a local girl of local Scottish descent and a member of his Clan.

  ‘I expect,’ she thought, ‘that as soon as he can see again he will be off to London, like so many of the young Chieftains today, who neglect their duty to their Clans because they find the big City more alluring than the moors and salmon rivers.’

  It had been a subject for condemnation all through the last century and it was, of course, quite understandable that the young Scottish Chieftains so wanted to enjoy themselves and be with their contemporaries.

  They found it more fun than dealing with all the local difficulties and endless problems of a Scottish estate.

  Yet Clansmen relied on them to the point where they hardly thought for themselves.

  Vara was well aware of how much the McDorns had been looking forward to having a new Chieftain and how disappointed they must be feeling now.

  “Do your best, darling,” her mother said, “and naturally if you want us at any time, your father and I will come and help in any way we possibly can.”

  “I know you will, Mama,” Vara replied, “but, if the Earl thinks my English accent is not good enough for him, I may return home tomorrow morning.”

  “If that happened,” the Minister said, “his Lordship will have to talk to the gulls for there is no one else I can turn to on his behalf.”

  “I am sure, Minister,” Lady McDorn said, “that Vara will do what you ask of her very successfully.”

  She had risen painfully to her feet and then shook hands warmly with the Minister.

  Then she put her arms round her daughter and held her close.

  “Take care of yourself, my darling. Your father and I will be counting the days until you come back to us.”

  Vara kissed her mother.

  “I will be over to see you tomorrow,” she promised, “come hell or high water!”

  Feeling perhaps that she had been indiscreet in front of the Minister, she turned to look at him.

  He was smiling.

  “Come along, Vara,” was all he said. “It may not be as difficult as you think and you will certainly be taking a great deal of weight off my shoulders.”

  The General accompanied them to the door.

  The Minister’s carriage was an old one, drawn by a horse that was too fat to move very fast. A groom was holding its head, although it had no intention of moving until prodded.

  As the Minister picked up the reins, he said,

  “Thank you, Ewen. You have been very helpful to me.”

  “If you ask me, Minister,” the General remarked, “you feed that horse too well.”

  “I expect you are right,” the Minister agreed, “but when she tells me that she is hungry, I don’t like to refuse her.”

  The old groom, who had been with the Minister for years, grinned.

  “You dinna say that, sir,” he said, “when we drinks too much at a funeral!”

  The Minister shook his head and did not reply.

  He had complained that after funerals, which in Scotland were attended only by men, the mourners were often so drunk on secretly distilled whisky from the moors that they could not find their way home.

  The groom touched his cap respectfully and Vara waved to her mother and father as the Minister drove his carriage away from the front door.

  She looked back to see her beloved parents standing on the steps of the house and she thought that they were looking a little forlorn.

  ‘They mind my leaving them,’ she told herself. ‘But Papa knows that I must do what I can to help the Clan.’

  She waved her hand until she could see them no longer.

  She then settled down comfortably to enjoy her drive.

  They were going over the high road that would eventually take them to The Castle.

  CHAPTER TWO

  They drove on for a little while in silence.

  Then Vara suggested,

  “You had better tell me exactly what the new Earl’s position is in the family. I had never heard of him until my mother told me that he was now here at The Castle.”

  “I am afraid that the story is a little complicated,” the Minister answered. “The old Earl had two brothers, the elder, James, was a very odd man, who was almost a recluse and so died unmarried.”

  He paused and adjusted his reins before he went on,

  “The second brother, Hector, was born in Scotland and married a Scottish girl. But they went South to live in England and they had the one son, Malcolm, who was the father of the present Earl.”

  Var
a looked thoughtful for a moment.

  Then she asked,

  “That makes him a great-nephew of the old Earl.”

  “That is correct. After the child was born, whose name is Bruce, his father and mother separated. Malcolm McDorn went abroad, travelling to far distant lands until he died when still only in middle age.”

  “How did he die?” Vara asked.

  “He caught some obscure fever in the heart of Africa and that is where he is buried.”

  “They don’t sound a very affectionate family to me,” Vara remarked.

  “Malcolm had married into an old and respected English family, the Lancasters,” the Minister said. “His father-in-law was a Marquis and his son was brought up by the Lancasters in an entirely English way.”

  Vara was listening with interest as the Minister continued,

  “Bruce went first to Eton and Oxford University and then, completely ignoring the fact that the McDorns have always served in the Black Watch, he joined the Household Cavalry.”

  “So I suppose he can ride well,” Vara murmured.

  “He went to India last year,” the Minister went on, “as aide-de-camp to the Viceroy – the Marquis of Ripon.”

  “So he was not on active service as a soldier, which I thought was how he had lost his eyesight,” Vara said. “Papa told me that he was on the North-West Frontier.”

  “I think he was,” the Minister answered somewhat vaguely. “But he was attending the Viceroy.”

  Vara thought that she would have respected him more if he had been fighting in battle against the savage Afghan tribesmen.

  She had always been told that they were incited to rebel by the Russians and armed by them with lethal weapons.

  “How old is the present Earl?” Vara asked when they had gone a little further.

  “He will be twenty-eight next birthday,” the Minister replied, “and I think he would be an intelligent and most charming man if he was not so sensitive about his affliction. And, as far as I can make out, actually resentful at becoming Chieftain of the Clan.”

  “Then why did he come here if he feels like that?” Vara asked.

  The Minister thought for a moment.