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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 11, Issue 4 (July 1, 1936)

Chapter IV

Chapter IV.

The days had spun themselves into weeks and the return of Mr. McWhin was at hand. All the treasures of Glenmayne had been packed up and stored, and on the morrow Ardoch and Catherine and the old woman who had acted as factotum to their household were to go to a house overlooking the Firth near Gouroch, there to await the ship “Druimuachdar” which, commanded by Captain Charley Barcle, was due to arrive in the Clyde in about six weeks’ time. Ardoch had made no definite decision as yet, but Catherine felt sure, and her whole being rejoiced in the thought, that it needed but little persuasion on the part of her brother to convince him that a new start together in a new land was the best course open to them.

There remained, however, one thing more to do at Glenmayne. After their evening meal Ardoch led the way by uncarpeted rooms and echoing passages to the library, where, in front of the open hearth a wide stone, fitted each end with an iron ring, was sunk into the floor. Bidding his wife and the old woman take hold of one of the rings, Ardoch himself took the other and between them they lifted the stone. In the hollow space beneath stood a small wooden casket very strongly made and bound with iron. Ardoch lifted this casket from its place, and opening it took from within two fire opals set in whorls of beaten gold, each one forming a pendant, for a lady's ear.

The Queen's Earrings, emblems of strife and unrest, that had come to the Lenzies when the din of battle was almost at their gates, were, after nearly three hundred years of safe keeping, to fare forth once more on a life of uncertainty and adventure!