The Last of the Kintyres by Catherine Airlie Page A

might make it easier for him, she said:
    “I know we must be—something of an embarrassment to you, Hew, but I don’t want you to go on feeling responsible for us. I’m twenty -t wo,” she added firmly. “Old enough to cope with Tony and look after myself.”
    He looked round at her with the faintest of smiles in his grey-green eyes.
    “I wouldn’t be at all surprised at that,” he said. “You didn’t exactly knuckle under when we met in London, but I still think you might need help, at least where Tony is concerned.”
    “I can cope,” she hastened to assure him. “Tony and I are quite attached to one another. It’s just that—he may have been a little bit spoiled in the past. He’ll grow out of it.”
    “I dare say,” he conceded slowly, lifting a long, buff - coloured envelope from the desk. “But the fact remains that he will be twenty-one in less than two years’ time, and then he comes into quite a considerable amount of money which has been accumulating since your grandmother died. It was this fact,” he added firmly, “which worried your mother towards the end of her life. She knew that Tony needed guidance and that my father would help in that respect.”
    “Yes.” Elizabeth looked down at her clasped hands. “It was such a relief to her to know that there was someone like Sir Ronald in the background. I never really knew your father,” she hurried on, “but these past few days I’ve felt that we could have been friends.” She paused, thinking of the old man who had lived such a full and active life here at Ardlamond and who could have helped Tony so much by example. “I’m sure Tony would have benefited by his friendship, but it just wasn’t to be.” She looked up, meeting his eyes fully. “We’re quite ready to go,” she told him.
    “That won’t be necessary.” He came round the end of the desk but passed her to cross to the fire. “With the title of laird, I have taken on all my father’s commitments, and Tony is now my ward.”
    “Oh—!”
    The unexpectedness of his blunt statement brought Elizabeth to her feet. She was sure that he could not want to accept such a responsibility.
    “Whether you like it or not,” he said, “I’m afraid Tony must remain answerable to me for the next eighteen months. After that,” he shrugged, “he can do as he pleases.”
    She could not read his expression, and his tone had told her nothing of his true feelings either.
    “You can’t possibly want us here,” she repeated, and had to wait what seemed an endless moment for his answer.
    “Whether I want you or not is beside the point,” he told her slowly. “What does matter is that Tony has been put in my charge and I mean to see that nothing goes wrong. If he is reasonable about the situation we should be able to work happily enough together, but if he should need some sort of curb I shall not hesitate to apply it.”
    There had been firm determination in his voice and she knew that he meant what he said. She imagined that he could be quite ruthless if occasion demanded it.
    “I suppose I can’t argue against such a decision,” she told him. “I do agree with you that Tony could be happy enough here.”
    “We must find him some work to do,” he said thoughtfully. “He tells me that he is not really keen on a university career.”
    “No, I don’t think he is.” For the first time Elizabeth was thinking about her own position, about having to part from her brother.
    Hew gave her an odd, calculating look.
    “What is he interested in,” he asked, “apart from fast cars?”
    Elizabeth flushed at the implication.
    “He has always loved trees,” she said, “if that’s any help.”
    “Forestry?” he considered. “That sounds promising enough. We shall have to see how he shapes in that direction.”
    Elizabeth bit her lip, not knowing what to say to him. Gradually Tony and the future seemed to be slipping away from her and she felt oddly, inexplicably alone. She would