Time Shall Reap Read Free

comparing her with some other girl?
    ‘There’s nothing wrong wi’ me seeing you like that.’
    She couldn’t think of anything to say which wouldn’t sound prudish or childish, and wriggled out of his encircling arm, fastening her buttons as he sat up with a sigh.
    ‘Aye, maybe you’re right, for I’ve done more than I should already.’
    She was relieved when he turned away and glanced round the room – he would find nothing wanting though he compared this homely kitchen with the one at Blairton – but she was glad when his eyes came to rest on the tall grandfather, standing sentry at the side of the fire. ‘That’s a fine clock.’
    This pleased her even more. It was the pride of the Gray household, and looked magnificently beautiful tonight, she thought, the Spanish mahogany reflecting the glowing coals in the range. ‘My father bought it as a wedding present for my mother at a sale in Findhavon House when Lord Hay died, and he got their initials engraved on the pendulum. He must have been real romantic when he was young, though it’s hard to believe when you look at him now.’
    Jumping up, she opened the door in the long case to show him the brass disc, and he hoisted himself round on to his knees to make out the letters as they swung from side to side. ‘GG – EW. That would be George Gray and ...?’
    ‘Elizabeth Watt, that was my mother’s single name.’
    ‘Aye, right enough, that was real romantic.’ He glanced idly up at the clock face. ‘My God! It’s half after eight.’
    Clambering to his feet, he lifted his steaming bonnet and coat from the fenderstool and put them on, then held a lighted taper to the wick in the lantern. ‘Your father would have a fit if he came in and found me here,’ he laughed, walking to the door.
    Standing with him in the tiny porch, Elspeth wished that he didn’t have to go, but his last kiss made her heart sing with joy again, and she went inside happily to pin up her hair and to wash before her father came home. In the cold, corrugated iron lean – to which her mother referred to as the ‘back kitchen’ – it had been erected a few years previously so that a sink with running water could be installed – her blood cooled down quickly, and she was sitting by the fire again, outwardly calm but inwardly reliving every moment of her time with John, when she heard her father at the porch and stood up to ladle out his soup, her hands trembling.
    Geordie Gray removed the snow from his boots by thumping his feet on the stone step before coming into the room, a huge white figure. Taking off his coat and bonnet, he looked around him, his eyes widening when he saw that his wife was not there. ‘Where’s your mother?’
    ‘She’d to go to Aberdeen.’ Elspeth pointed to the note still lying on the table, accompanied now by the large steaming bowl.
    He grunted when he read it. ‘Janet would have your mother running after her though it was only a sore head she’d got. She’s aye been the same.’
    He said nothing else until he finished his broth. ‘Well, lass, how did you fare coming home? I’d a bit o’ a struggle, just the wee bit I’d to come.’
    Elspeth thought it would be best to tell him at least part of the truth. ‘I went past our house without seeing it, and I’d have been lost if I hadna met John Forrest. He made sure I got back here.’
    Geordie’s brows shot down, his piercing blue eyes full of suspicion as he said sharply, ‘And since when did you ken John Forrest? You’ve never let on that you ken’t him before.’
    ‘I didna, but he told me who he was.’
    ‘You should ken better than speak to a man you’ve never been introduced to.’
    Her heart sinking, Elspeth tried to defend herself. ‘I thought I was lost ... I thought I’d perish in the snow if I’d to keep on wandering about ...’
    ‘Perish? Havers! You’ve two sturdy legs, so what made you think you would perish?’
    ‘I was getting awful tired, and when I saw the