Poverty Castle Read Free Page B

nearly three hundred thousand pounds.
    â€˜I don’t think you should venture upstairs, my love,’ called Mama. ‘It might not be safe.’
    They knew that Papa attracted accidents the way he did clegs. It wasn’t just that he was often befuddled with wine, it was also that he had too much faith in the appearance of things.
    â€˜If we do not venture what do we ever achieve?’ he cried.
    His daughters always felt most protective and loving when he was in this rash and defiant mood.
    â€˜I’ll go first,’ said Effie. ‘I’m lighter.’
    They all cricked their necks gazing up the stairwell. They hadn’t realised the house was so high: three storeys, plus attics. If the roof or one of the upper floors collapsed they could all be killed.
    Papa tweaked his moustache, first the right side and then the left: it was his way of crossing himself. Then he ascended the stairs, very cautiously. Diana came close behind, ready to yell a warning or grab him. The twins followed her. Rowena and Rebecca stayed behind with Mama. Rowena, who hated unnecessary exertion, pretended to be aggrieved and tried on various expressions to indicate it.
    Sheep had not managed up into the rooms on the first floor, but birds had, and children: there were feathers and sweetie papers among the sand blown in from the beach. Cobwebs were everywhere. There were remnants of wallpaper. People had lived here once. They could live here again.
    â€˜Look at those skirting boards and cornices,’ cried Papa. ‘The best materials were used in the building of this house. Nothing shoddy or skimpy. I wonder why it was allowed to go derelict.’
    â€˜Perhaps there was a murder,’ said Effie, ‘and now there’s a ghost.’
    â€˜It’s too bright and sunny for ghosts,’ said Diana.
    â€˜What about at night, when the wind’s howling?’
    Jeanie shouted down. ‘It’s all right, Mama. It’s quite safe if you want to come up.’
    Intrepidly Papa led the way up to the second floor.
    â€˜This is the style in which many old Scottish castles were built,’ he said, ‘very high and narrow, with thick walls and small windows.’
    â€˜But this isn’t a castle,’ said Effie. ‘It’s got no turrets.’
    â€˜With all these stairs and all these rooms we’d need a servant,’ said Diana.
    â€˜Well, we could afford a servant,’ said Jeanie. ‘Couldn’t we, Papa?’
    But Papa, on his knees almost, was peering out of a window, ecstatic about the view.
    Jura’s great lumps of stone shone in the blue sky.
    â€˜You can almost see the deer,’ said Jeanie.
    In the distance, southward, across the river, was the little harbour with boats in it; and on a hill above it people played on the nine-hole golf course. Walking over it that morning Papa had picked what he claimed to be mushrooms. To prove it he had eaten half of one while the girls shrieked in alarm and waited for him to turn black and die.
    â€˜What’s that over there?’ asked Effie, pointing.
    Northward, beyond the wide machair, was a dense wood out of the heart of which rose chimneys and parts of a roof.
    â€˜That’ll be the big house where the laird lives,’ said Papa.
    â€˜Who’s the laird?’ asked Diana.
    â€˜This is Campbell country so I suspect he’ll be a member of that clan.’
    â€˜Was it him put up those notices on the beach?’ asked Effie.
    They were to the effect that the beach was private and trespassing was forbidden. The Sempills had not been deterred.
    â€˜Does he own the ruins of the old castle?’ asked Jeanie. ‘That said private too.’
    â€˜I expect his ancestors lived in it once, hundreds of years ago.’
    â€˜Is this house on his land?’ asked Diana. ‘It could well be.’
    â€˜I think he’s too greedy,’ said Effie.
    â€˜Who is, my dear?’ panted Mama,