The Eyes of Love Read online

  Vara rode on until just before she reached the cottage she waited for the Earl’s horse to come alongside hers.

  “We have arrived,” she said quietly.

  “You must tell me where,” the Earl answered.

  “I have brought you to see a woman known as ‘Mother MacKay’,” Vara said. “She is an unusual person and is one of the most important members of the Clan.”

  “In what way?” the Earl asked.

  “She is known as a ‘White Witch’,” Vara explained, “but she is actually a Healer.”

  She realised that the Earl stiffened and she followed up quickly,

  “Everybody consults her when they are ill or in trouble. Mrs. Bryden brings her injured birds. Shepherds take her their lambs and ewes when they are hurt. And there is no one in the County who is more respected.”

  For a moment there was silence.

  Vara was feeling half-afraid that the Earl would turn his horse round and ride back the way they had come.

  Instead he said quietly,

  “Do you really think, Vara, that she will be able to heal my eyes?”

  “I am certain she will.” Vara answered. “But the important thing is you have to believe in her healing powers in order to make them work fully.”

  Again she was afraid that the Earl might refuse to have anything to do with it and dismiss Mother Mackay’s powers of healing as fraudulent.

  Instead he asked,

  “Do we dismount now or have we further to go?”

  Vara felt as if she had been holding her breath as she replied,

  “We dismount and we don’t need to tie up the horses. They will not go far.”

  Unexpectedly the Earl smiled.

  “If they do, it will be your job to catch them.”

  He swung himself from the saddle to the ground as Vara did the same.

  They tied the reins to the horses’ necks so as not to get in their way as they were grazing on young heather.

  Then Vara went to the Earl’s side.

  He knew what was expected of him and he put his hand on her shoulder.

  She opened the small gate from which a tiled path led up to the front door of the cottage.

  The path was not wide and, as if he sensed it. the Earl kept close to her.

  They reached the door and Vara knocked.

  “Come awa’ in,” a husky voice called out.

  Vara murmured to the Earl,

  “Mind your head here, the lintel is low.”

  He did as he was told and they went inside the cottage.

  Sitting by the fire, over which hung a large cauldron like those the gypsies use, was an elderly woman.

  Vara knew that Mother MacKay must be very old by now and she had however expected her to look the same as she had when she had first seen her.

  Instead Mother MacKay now had white hair, a very thin face and her hands showed the blue veins of old age.

  But her eyes seemed as bright and as sharp as they had been when she was young.

  She looked at Vara and said,

  “You came to see me when you were but a wee lassie who had hurt her finger.”

  “How could you remember that?” Vara asked her. “But you healed me, Mother MacKay, and now I have brought you the new Earl of Dornoch who needs your help and your powers of healing.”

  “Ah ken he’s blind,” Mother MacKay said quietly.

  Vara thought that it was just typical of her that, living so far away from the village, she was nevertheless aware of what was going on.

  Mother MacKay pointed with her hand to a chair opposite her own.

  Vara guided the Earl to it and he sat down.

  “Ah’m ever so sorry to hear aboot your Lordship’s blindness,” Mother MacKay began, “and you must tell me how it happened.”

  Vara drew in her breath in case the Earl would refuse to tell her his story.

  However he responded simply,

  “I was cursed in India by a Holy Man, a Fakir, because I had shot two men who were attempting to assassinate the Viceroy.”

  “Ma spirits told me it was somethin’ like that,” Mother MacKay replied.

  “Your spirits told you that?” the Earl enquired. “But I have not told anyone since I came here exactly how it happened.”

  “Ah thought you’d come to see me, ye ken,” Mother MacKay went on, “and Ah’ll do my best to rid you of the curse. Or rather those who guide me’ll do their best.”

  “I cannot tell you what it would mean to me to be able to see again,” the Earl stated.

  “You have to believe and let those who watch o’er us do their work,” Mother MacKay said.

  She then rose from her chair and went over to the window.

  Now the small room was dark except for the light from the fire.

  Mother MacKay then went to stand behind the Earl’s chair.

  “What Ah’m going to do,” she started, “is to take the bandage frae your eyes and it’s best you keep them closed. When Ah touch them with the Light of God, dinna try to see.”

  She paused as if she was waiting for his answer and after a moment he said,

  “I will do exactly what you tell me.”

  “Verra weel,” Mother MacKay said, “Ah trust you to keep your word.”

  The Earl had removed his bonnet as he came into the house and now Mother MacKay began to undo the bandage.

  From where she was sitting Vara could only faintly see her movements.

  In some strange way that she could not explain, the flames of the fire seemed to flicker and die down and there was only the glimmer of the embers.

  She was aware, however, that Mother MacKay had undone the bandage and placed it on the table beside her.

  Then she put her hands on the Earl’s eyes.

  There was no sound, but Vara knew at once that she was praying and evoking the spirits in which she believed.

  Suddenly in the darkness and quiet of the small room Vara became aware that there were not just three people present.

  She could not explain it to herself, but she sensed that there were others.

  Her whole mind and body was vividly conscious of it.

  It was so real that she was as aware of the spirits as she was of the Earl and Mother MacKay.

  She could feel them vibrating around her as she closed her eyes and prayed for the Earl.

  But she knew that if she opened them, she would see a light that was not of this world.

  It was all so intense and yet so real that she found it hard to breathe.

  It came as a shock when in the same quiet voice Mother MacKay said,

  “Noo the spirits have touched you with their healing rays, but they say you’re not to open them ’til dawn is breakin’ tomorrow mornin’.”

  “I understand,” the Earl nodded.

  Vara had opened her eyes and she was aware that Mother MacKay was putting back the bandage over the Earl’s eyes.

  As she fastened it at the back, Vara went to the windows and opened the curtains.

  Mother MacKay had returned to the seat in which she had been sitting and the Earl said,

  “I don’t know how to thank you. Will you tell me how I can do so?”

  “Ah ken fine you’re goin’ to help the Clan,” Mother MacKay said. “It is your help that they need and they need it urgently. The Chieftain must always lead his people.”

  “I am well aware of that,” the Earl said, “and, when I can see again, I promise you that everything will be made as perfect as it is possible.”

  “That’s all Ah wants to hear,” Mother MacKay nodded,

  “But I would still like to do something for you personally,” the Earl persisted.

  Mother MacKay smiled.

  “Ah’ll be here, if you need me, you have only to tell me what Ah can do for you and all Ah want is the approval of those who work through me.”

  “You are a very remarkable person,” the Earl exclaimed.

  He started to rise from his chair and Vara went to his
side.

  Knowing from the sound of her voice where Mother MacKay was, he held out his hand.

  “I don’t know how to say ‘thank you’,” he said, “and to tell you that I do believe most sincerely in you and I know that you have helped me enormously.”

  Mother MacKay smiled.

  “Tha’s all Ah wants to hear, my Lord, but remember what Ah’ve told you, dinna try oot your eyes ’til the morrow.”

  “I promise I will do just as you have told me,” he confirmed.

  He began to move to where he thought the door was and Vara said to Mother MacKay,

  “Thank you, thank you very very much and, when I tell my father what you have done, he will thank you as well.”

  Mother MacKay just inclined her head, but she did not speak.

  They then went outside the cottage into the sunshine.

  As Vara had expected, the horses were where they had left them, seeking out the grass amongst the heather.

  She then caught hold of the Earl’s horse first and, when she took it alongside the Earl, he swung himself into the saddle.

  Vara mounted her own horse and went ahead in the same way as when they had come up the moor.

  Only as she started back did she ask herself if the miracle that she had prayed for would occur.

  ‘No one in the South would believe us,’ she thought, ‘but Scotland is filled with spirits. They fill the air, the sky, the rivers and the moors.’

  In the far distance she could see the sea and, as they went lower, there were the Towers and majesty of The Castle.

  ‘Please, please, God,’ she prayed, ‘let him see – let him be able to see!’

  She knew that it was the most unselfish prayer that she had ever made.

  CHAPTER SIX

  As they drew nearer to The Castle. Vara led the way through some shrubs and trees to avoid their being seen.

  She wondered if this was the last time that the Earl would have to hide from those who might have seen him with his eyes bandaged.

  By the side door there were two grooms waiting for their return.

  “You are home,” Vara said softly so that the Earl would know that they had reached The Castle.

  He dismounted and she helped him up the steps and in through the door.

  They moved up the side staircase in silence.

  When they reached the landing, the Earl said,

  “I want to go to my own room.”

  Obediently Vara took him to the door and when he walked inside she went to her room.

  There was no one there and she moved to the window to look out at the sea.

  Once again she was wondering if tomorrow the Earl would see again and then she would have to go home.

  She knew that she would never forget this quite extraordinary experience.

  The days she had spent helping him, getting to know him, then so unexpectedly falling in love with him.

  She had never imagined or dreamt that love would come to her in such a strange way.

  Or that she would feel it pulsating through her whole body so that she hardly recognised herself and her feelings.

  ‘Whatever may happen to me in the future,’ she mused, ‘I will never forget him and I don’t suppose that I shall ever feel like this for any other man for the rest of my life.’

  She knew that her father and mother had fallen in love at first sight.

  It had taken a whole long year, however, for them to gain the consent of her mother’s parents to be married.

  During that time they had neither of them looked at anybody else.

  ‘That is what will – happen to – me one day,’ Vara had assured herself.

  But for the Earl it would be very different.

  She could well imagine him going back to London when he found it boring at The Castle once everything was in good order on his estate.

  He would undoubtedly want to make everything perfect first and she knew already from the way he gave out his orders that he was an organiser.

  He was very quick-brained and she thought that, once he was no longer worried about his eyes, he would find a thousand things that needed doing or replacing.

  ‘In that case perhaps he will stay here for quite a long time,’ she thought hopefully.

  Then she laughed at herself.

  She was only trying to invent her possibilities of seeing the Earl.

  Even if she returned home, perhaps she could come to The Castle occasionally to talk to him.

  ‘I love – him! I – love – him!’ she told herself over and over again.

  She felt that the waves beating on the shore below repeated the words.

  She decided now that it would be tactful to stay in her room until dinnertime.

  Then, wearing one of the new gowns she had brought with her from her home, she went to the Chieftain’s Room.

  The Earl was already present.

  He had been dressed immaculately by Donald in the evening clothes of the Chieftain.

  At the very sight of him, Vara felt her heart turn a complete somersault.

  Despite his bandaged eyes she thought that no one could look more impressive or more handsome.

  The Earl did not refer to what they had done during the afternoon.

  So they talked about a great many other things including the Harbour.

  “Have you come to any conclusion about what is to be done about the layabouts,” Vara asked, “who are causing so much trouble in the village?”

  “I want to talk again to your father about them,” the Earl replied. “I feel that between us we will come up with something to occupy those youths and keep them out of mischief.”

  “You will be very popular with the Elders if you can do that,” Vara commented.

  “Oh, the Elders again!” the Earl exclaimed. “I have not forgotten that I have promised to meet with them.”

  “They are waiting patiently for a summons to The Castle.”

  Vara thought as she spoke that this was another hurdle that the Earl had taken.

  Now there was only one really frightening problem to face.

  And it depended on whether or not Mother MacKay’s treatment would restore his sight.

  When they went back to the Chieftain’s Room after their dinner, since the Earl seemed disinclined to talk, Vara said,

  “I have had a busy day, my Lord, and I think now I will retire to bed.”

  “For me it will be a very long night,” the Earl remarked. “Tomorrow we shall learn if the answer is a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’.”

  Vara was about to walk towards the door when to her surprise he rose from his chair and held out his hand.

  When she had placed hers in it, he said,

  “I have to thank you, Vara, for all that you have done for me. I know you have tried very hard and I can only hope that our visit this afternoon to old Mother Mackay will prove to be successful.”

  Vara’s fingers quivered in his.

  “I shall be – praying that tomorrow you will be able – to see,” she said very softly.

  “I shall be doing the same,” the Earl replied.

  She would have taken her hand away, but he raised it to his lips.

  He actually kissed the softness of her skin.

  “Thank you very much, Vara,” he said again.

  She felt as if the angels were singing because he had touched her.

  Yet she left without saying anything more.

  When she reached her bedroom, she put her own lips against her hand where the Earl had kissed it.

  She felt a little thrill run through her whole body.

  When she went to the window, the stars were shining and there was a moon climbing up the sky over the sea. It was touching the waves with its silver light.

  It was just so incredibly beautiful and so mysterious that she felt as if the Spirits of the Sea were sending out their powers towards the Earl.

  Perhaps they too could sweep away the curse that had been put on him by the Fakir.

  Sh
e stood gazing at the amazing scene in front of her and praying for a long time before she undressed and finally climbed into her bed.

  It was impossible for her to sleep.

  She could only think of the Earl and she worried agonisingly in case, when the morning came, and he was still blind.

  ‘What can I say to him then? What shall I do?’ she asked herself frantically.

  She felt the helplessness of a woman who loves a man and is unable to take his suffering from him.

  What the Earl must be feeling was unthinkable.

  How could he possibly be sleeping, knowing that in the morning he would face either victory or defeat?

  Vara tossed and turned until finally she forced herself to lie still and try to relax.

  ‘What I must do is pray,’ she told herself, ‘and not think of my own feelings.’

  But it was difficult for her not to do so.

  However hard she prayed for him, there was always the question at the back of her mind.

  Would this be the end of their association?

  They had talked about his giving a ball and she wondered if she would be invited to it.

  He needed to know how to ‘oil the wheels’ of the Clan and her father was a much more experienced teacher than she would be.

  He could choose teachers from the experts who danced at the Highland Games and were some of the best Reel dancers in the whole of Scotland.

  The same applied to so much else that could happen at The Castle.

  The Earl had still not held the Ceremony in which the Clansmen kissed their Chieftain’s hand and swore their allegiance to him. And the Pipers would play from morning until night.

  If the Earl was generous, there would be a stag roasting on the fire, home-brewed ale in great jars and a fireworks display.

  Vara could imagine the excitement not only of the young members of the Clan but also of those who were older.

  And no one, she thought, would look more distinguished than the Clan Chieftain himself.

  There were so many thoughts turning over and over in her mind.

  Finally she fell asleep, only to wake with a start.

  She thought that she heard a movement within the walls of her room.

  She listened for a few moments and then decided that it must be the rats.

  They had awakened her and she sat up in bed, feeling as she did so in the drawer of the bedside table for her revolver.