The Desperate Journey Read Free Page A

accord they stopped and put on their shoes. Kirsty drew her shawl more tightly about her. The long avenue with the drifts of last year’s beech leaves stretched before them. All was silent exceptfor the light wind that rustled the trees overhead. Kirsty stopped suddenly. “I dare not go to that big door and ask for Mr Sellar. Oh, Davie, it’s frightened I am!”
    Davie, too, was a little overawed by the castle, but he was not going to show it. “Oh, dinna be a feartie,” he said. “I’ve been here before with my father to bring a young pig for the Countess’s dinner.”
    “Did she eat a whole pig?” Kirsty’s eyes opened wide.
    “Och, it’s foolish you are! It was for a grand party she was having with a large company. I mind that then my father and I went round to the back of the castle where the servants live. That is what we will do now, and ask there for Mr Sellar.”
    They went by a path through some kitchen gardens, then passed the stables, set well apart from the house. There a stable lad, grooming a horse, called to ask them where they were going.
    “We are seeking Mr Patrick Sellar,” Davie said with dignity. “Will we be finding him at the castle?”
    “Aye, he’s there speaking with her ladyship now. This is his horse that I’m grooming.”
    The lad seemed friendly. Davie was encouraged to ask his advice. “How could I get word to Mr Sellar? I must speak with him this day.”
    The stable lad looked at him curiously for a moment. “He is not likely to leave her ladyship to come and speak with you. You would do better to wait for him here. He may be some time, but you will be sure to see him, for he cannot go away without his horse.”
    Kirsty looked troubled. “Oh dear! We must be home before the night falls.”
    “James Murray’s bairns from Culmailie, are you?”
    “Aye,” Davie nodded.
    “I ken your father. Come into the stable, bairns. You can sit on the hay there and rest.”
    “But what if Mr Sellar comes out? We must not miss him.”
    “You cannot miss him. He will send for his horse to be broughtround to the front of the castle, and I will call you then.”
    It was warm and comfortable in the stable and the children settled down to rest, Kirsty leaning wearily against Davie. Soon her eyes began to blink and before long she was fast asleep. Davie remained awake, staring through the open door towards the castle, waiting, waiting. The sunset tinted the topmost branches of the trees a rosy red, then the sky paled; colour drained from it and the greyness of evening spread about. Davie shifted uneasily. Already they would have been missed at the croft and even now his father might be searching for them. After coming so far, though, it would never do to go back without seeing the factor.
    Kirsty stirred, rubbed her eyes and looked about her. Recollection came flooding back. “Oh, Davie, it’s getting dark and we’re still here! Surely the factor must have gone?”
    “Not yet!” Just then there was a clatter of feet across the cobbled yard, and Calum Ross the stable lad came running.
    “I’ve to saddle Mr Sellar’s horse now and lead him round to the foot of the steps below the main door.”
    “I’ll help you with the saddling,” Davie offered.
    That done, Calum led the horse round the side of the castle, and the children followed him closely.
    Mr Sellar came out and began to descend the steps. Davie stepped forward between Mr Sellar and his horse. “Please, sir, may I have a word with you?” he asked respectfully.
    Sellar peered at him in the gathering dusk. “You, is it? Murray’s lad? Ah, so your sister of the sharp teeth is with you too? Weel, has your father sent you snivelling to ask my pardon?”
    “He has not!” Davie cried indignantly. “It is about this paper that we found nailed to our door that we have come.”
    “Ah! I thought that would sting James Murray,” Sellar said with satisfaction. “A crafty piece of work to send his bairns to ask for