Now, as Leona looked over the expanse of silver water, she could see that there were many little crofts on either side of it, nestling in the shadow of the hills, and in the green holdings the shaggy Highland cattle with their huge horns.
“Do you own a great deal of land?” Leona asked.
“Not as much as I should like,” Lord Strathcairn replied, “but I have many acres stretching Eastwards to the sea and South into Inverness.”
It seemed to her that the expression in his eyes darkened. “My boundary is at the top of the far moor. After that, one is in Ardness.”
“As near as that?” Leona exclaimed. “Then how far is Ardness Castle?”
“By road,” Lord Strathcairn replied, “you will have to travel nearly ten miles before you reach your destination, but as the crow flies we are not more than perhap
