There was silence until she queried,
“Are you really asking me to go to The Castle and read to his Lordship?”
“I am begging you to do so,” the Minister answered. “Mr. Bryden has been very loyal and has kept people who are curious away from him. At the same time he says he dare not let the fishermen, the gamekeepers, the gillies or anyone else near his Lordship because he will undoubtedly tell them that he cannot understand what they are saying.”
“And obviously has no wish to do so,” Vara remarked. “It seems to me he is a very spoilt young man and somebody should warn him what harm he can do if he continues to behave in such a ridiculous manner.”
“I would doubt if what you are suggesting would do any good,” the Minister answered. “He seems most reluctant to accept the position in which he finds himself and deeply resents that he cannot see. Equally he hates offers of pity or sympathy because, I think, he finds it degrading.”
Lady McDorn sighed.
“I can see your problem, Minister.”
“I have a feeling,” the Minister said, “that it could be solved if Vara, who has always been a very clever girl, could not only read to him but try to impress upon him that the Clan really needs his leadership.”
Vara knew that this was very true.
The last Earl had been over eighty when he died and for the last five years of his life he had been completely senile.
No one had seen him except the Minister and the doctors, who admitted that they could do nothing for him.
Vara knew as well that her father would have commiserated with the Elders.
Everything they claimed was going to rack and ruin without their Chieftain to inspire and direct them.
She had often thought when she was in England that the Scots were very childlike in many ways and they relied perhaps too much on their Chieftain to solve every problem for them.
She did not stop to think over what the Minister had just asked of her, but said without hesitating,
“Of course, if I can do any good, I will come to The Castle. Would you like to take me back with you today?”
“If it is not asking too much,” the Minister replied. “I think it would be most helpful if you would stay at The Castle for a few days.”
“Stay there?” Vara questioned. “But why?”
“Mr. Bryden tells me that because his Lordship is in darkness, he does not know night from day. Mr. Bryden is not a young man and he is often called from his bed to answer some question that is puzzling the Earl or to read something to him that he has not understood.”
“Oh, poor Mr. Bryden,” Vara sympathised. “He is just far too old to be woken up in the middle of the night.”
“That is exactly what I think,” the Minister agreed, “and Donald, his Lordship’s personal servant, is also beginning to feel the strain.”
“Well, I shall certainly tell his Lordship that I need my beauty sleep,” Vara said firmly, “and, if he is being too selfish and inconsiderate, I shall disconnect the bells when no one is looking!”
The Minister laughed while Lady McDorn suggested,
“Darling, you must try to understand that for a young man it is intolerable to be blind. I am sure he wants to be out catching salmon in the river and shooting grouse on the moors.”
“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