Read Online The Last of the Kintyres by Catherine Airlie - Free Book Online

today, when you have had so much to do.” She gripped her hands tightly together. “Why did they have to go off like that?” she exclaimed.
    “That’s beside the point,” he answered briefly. “What is important is that we get there before the police begin to ask too many questions.”
    “The police?” She stared at him, wide-eyed. “Is there someone else involved—some other car?”
    “No, I think not. It would appear that they just went off the road. The Cadillac is a very fast car.”
    He released her arm and she turned in search of her coat.
    “How far is it?” she asked.
    “About fifty miles.”
    “I thought they might have gone to the Castle,” she suggested nervously.
    “That would have been too simple.”
    He went past her towards the door and she saw how taut his jaw was and the angry little gleam at the back of his eyes. Yet, over and above these things, there was anxiety. There could be no doubt about that, and suddenly Elizabeth was saying:
    “Hew—is it Caroline? Has she been seriously hurt?”
    “I don’t think so.” A small pulse leapt to life beneath his temple and throbbed there for a moment. “I don’t think either of them was seriously injured, although Tony appears to have a slight concussion. The point is,” he added grimly, “that we must get them back here as quickly as possible.”
    Elizabeth went to get her coat. Of course, he was worried about Caroline and trying not to show it. If he was in love with her he would be worried. And he would be terribly angry with Tony.
    She tried not to sympathize with her brother or lay the full blame for this unfortunate episode at Caroline’s door because she was three years older than Tony. Tony should not have gone off as he had done especially without saying anything about their intentions.
    And now it was late and getting dark, and Hew had already been through a long, trying day.
    By the time Elizabeth came back downstairs he had explained the situation to Mrs. Malcolm.
    “I’ll keep the supper hot,” she promised. “You’ll be needing it after a long run like that.”
    “You’d better go to bed, Jessie,” Hew said kindly. “It may be well after midnight by the time we get back.”
    “I’ll wait up, all the same,” was Jessie’s firm rejoinder. “Anything could have happened.”
    Y es, indeed, anything could have happened, Elizabeth thought with a fastly-beating heart as she followed Hew out to the stabling which now provided adequate garage accommodation. The Land-Rover which he used at Whitefarland was parked outside the doors, but he went past it to take the car which his father had driven for many years. It was an old Daimler, still fast and reliable, and very much more comfortable than the Land-Rover, and she knew that the choice had been a concession to her comfort.
    “If you’d rather take the Land-Rover, Hew,” she offered, “I don’t really mind. It doesn’t matter how we travel as long as we get there quickly.”
    He opened the door of the Daimler without turning. “Get in,” he said almost brusquely. “We may need the extra room to bring them back.”
    They drove in silence for the first few miles over the winding shore road and inland along a narrow sea-loch where tall pines came down to the water’s edge, making a silence and a darkness that could almost be felt. The sun had set long ago and the magic gloaming hour was past. It was cold and bleak-looking among the hills and the mountains ahead of them stood out harshly black against a greying, starless sky.
    They ran though Oban, already settled and still for the night, crouched round the silver basin of the harbour, with the guardian arches of McCaig’s Folly standing starkly on the hill above it. On past ruined Dunollie gazing westwards over a shadowed loch, as if for ever watching for the return of a former glory; on to Connel and beyond, where the giant mountains of the north came crowding down like vengeful giants rushing towards the sea. They