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though. He kept saying he had betrayed someone’s trust.’ She rubbed her brow as though the matter still perplexed her. ‘Yet he said he would still have made the same choice. I hate to think he may have died with a troubled conscience. Minnie said he was just trying to warn me not to be too trusting.’
    â€˜I suppose we are all human,’ Ross reflected. ‘There’s a bit of bad in the best of people. No one is perfect.’ He grimaced. ‘I think Mother would have gone through fire and flood for Josh, but I know she would not do much for me if I needed help. She has always regarded me as the black sheep, even when I tried my best to please her.’ Rachel caught a fleeting glimpse of pain and bewilderment in his blue eyes, before he lowered his lids and flicked impatiently at a clump of grass with a hazel wand he had taken from the hedge earlier.
    â€˜I don’t believe any mother could really favour one of her own children more than another.’ She had intended the words to comfort him but they seemed to make him angry.
    â€˜Well, my mother must be unique then, because she has always made me feel like a cuckoo in the nest.’
    â€˜I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean …’
    â€˜Och, let’s forget the rest of the world. The day is too beautiful for dark and serious thoughts.’
    â€˜All right.’ She knew Minnie would not have wanted her to grieve. She smiled as she remembered the old lady’s dry humour. Seeing the tiny smile lifting the corners of her mouth Ross knew his father was right to get her out of the dreary atmosphere at Windlebrae. He clasped her hand in his.
    â€˜Come on, we’ll run to the top of the brae.’ Without waiting for her consent he loped away, pulling her with him. She bunched up her skirts with her free hand and did her best to keep up with his long legs.
    She was light and fleet of foot but she was gasping for breath, her cheeks flushed as they breasted the hill and sank down together onto the soft turf. Just below them there was the tinkle of running water where a silver spangled cascade tumbled over some rocks. It swirled into a pool where two burns met, before flowing onward, a little deeper, a little wider than before. They were sheltered from the north by the gentle rise of the hill behind them. In front, beyond the meandering burn, a green patch of fields and hedges stretched away to meet the sky. At their feet wild flowers spread their petals and a little further up the burn she could see the edge of the wood.
    â€˜It’s just as pretty as your father promised.’ She laughed with delight. She had scarcely seen anything except the farmyard and the kirk since she arrived at Windlebrae. Today she felt free and light as the summer air.
    â€˜It is good to see you smile, Rachel.’ Ross was fascinated by the tiny dimple which came and went at the corner of her mouth. ‘You were meant for laughter. No wonder my father is pleased to have you at Windlebrae. Somehow I can’t imagine my mother ever being young and truly happy. Even Meg does not sing to herself and laugh aloud as she used to do. It is as though there is a dark cloud over the whole house. It was different when Josh was alive.’ He turned onto his stomach, propping himself up on an elbow, his eyes studying her intently. ‘It’s strange, but you remind me of Josh in a way. He had a little dimple at the corner of his mouth that seemed to flicker in and out.’ His finger traced the contour of her cheek wonderingly, coming to rest on the spot where the dimple was hidden. He looked down at her, shaking his head. ‘Josh was meant for laughter too. He could charm the birds off the trees. Even when he was up to mischief, he never roused mother’s anger. She was not always as grim as she is now.’ He sounded almost apologetic.
    â€˜It must have been dreadful to lose a son. It was kind of your parents to give me a