I said nothing to that.
'If I were you,' Mother said.'I would get up and dressed soon.And get a decent breakfast.You will need all the strength today.'
I shoved back the tangled mess of my hair and scratched my head.Honestly, if men saw us first thing in the morning, they would not be attracted at all.Mind you, Hugh had first seen me in a dungeon, filthy and… I concentrated on what Mother had said.'Why?'I asked.I had rather hoped that I could recover after all my recent excitements.
'You'll see.'Mother patted my thigh.'It's up to your father to explain, not me.'She lowered her voice.'All I will say is don't think too hardly of him, Jeannie.Talk to me later, when you know.'
'When I know what?'I scratched my head again, furiously, and again pushed back my shocking hair.I hated all this secrecy.Why could people not be straightforward and open?'Why should I think hardly of Father?'
Mother patted my thigh again.'We are having a visitor in the forenoon,' she said.'Some things will be explained then.'She looked at me, sighed, and shook her head.'I will send up a maid with a basin of water to help wash your hair, Jeannie.I can see you brought half of Liddesdale back with you.If I did not know better, I would say that you had been rolling around on the ground.'
You will have to do better than that, Mother, I thought.'It would feel cleaner after a wash.'
'And wear something at last half-decent,' Mother said, 'don't go around near naked.'She stood up, shaking her head.'It's no wonder most of the men in the Borders want to bed you.'
I was better than half-decent when I sat at the ingleneuk in the great hall.I had taken pains with both my clothes and my appearance, which drew some ribald comments from the boys of the valley when they began to filter in.The maid had done herself proud in washing my hair with water in which birch-bark had been soaked so it both shone and had a sweet aroma.That caused Robert to give a loud laugh.
'Is that the latest fashion in Liddesdale?'
I did not fully appreciate the joke and told him so with hot words and narrowed eyes that did their work well.
'It was meant to be funny,' Robert said.
About to say that it would have been funnier if he had come to rescue me, I bit back the words.I had no desire to humiliate him further.Indeed, I knew he was going to save me at some time in the future, so I had to be gentle with him.I swallowed my anger.
'Do you know what this is all about?'I asked.
'Not yet,' Robert said, smiling past me to Crooked Sim of the Mains.
'Does anybody know?'I looked around the hall as more men entered.All the leading men of the valley seemed to be there, from our tenants at Lethanhead away up in the hills to the riverside men of Lethanfoot who owed their allegiance to Ferguson of Whitecleuch.
'What?'Robert glanced at me.'Oh, no I don't think so, Jeannie.Not until your father tells us.'
'It's good to be back.'I reached out for him.
When Robert continued to ignore me and talk to Crooked Sim, I nudged him in the ribs.'I said it's good to be back!'I nodded to my hand.Honestly, that man was hard work.'You may take my hand if you wish.'
'Go on, Rab, take her hand when you're told,' Crooked Sim jeered.'Jeannie got herself all dressed up for you!She even washed the lice from her hair.'
I tapped my hand on the table we sat around.'Robert?'
He laughed and looked away.'Not in front of my friends, Jeannie,' he said so softly that only I could hear him.
I withdrew my hand and stood up.'I will leave you with your friends,' I said.
There was a better view from the top table and anyway, it was where I belonged.I should never have joined the Whitecleuch boys, despite Robert being there.I sat at the top table with a vacant seat on either side, fuming as more men crammed into the hall and my Robert sat in the midst of his cronies, cracking poor jokes, and boasting to each other of their prowess.
Only after the last of my father's chief tenants found a space did Father himself arrive, with Mother at his side.Father entered with a flourish and with his sword at his side, which was unusual inside the tower.
As the men either stood in respect or hammered hard hands on the table in spontaneous applause, Father and Mother stepped to the head table, with Willie Telfer standing by the closed door.I moved aside as they took their places.
'Enough!'Father roared and the row gradually subsided.'You will be wondering why I have gathered you all together today.'That was a statement rather than a question.'Well if you sit still and listen you will learn.'
There was a general laugh at that, with a few ribald comments from the more crude of the men.Why do some men think it amusing to be rude about everything?
'For as long as we all can remember,' Father said, 'we have been at feud with the Veitches.'
The men growled at that, waving their fists in the air to prove their martial valour and dislike of the old enemy.I sat silent, thinking of Hugh as I watched Robert and his group of friends outshout all the others; young callants eager to be heard.For one bitter moment I wondered how they would fare against Wild Will and his band of veteran outlaws, shook the thought away as disloyal and listened to Father.
