This was a surprise, but a welcome one. Hannah said, "How is Charlie? Is he well?"

"He's weel enouch," said the old woman. "Mournin' his brither, as are we aa. Ye were a comfort tae oor Mungo in his last days, and it willna be forgotten, lass."

"He was a good lad," said Hannah. "Is Charlie here?"

"I wish he were," said Gelleys. "But they called him awa' back tae his ship, and it will be muny a year afore we see him agin. But ye didna come tae talk o' sic waerifu' things, I'm sure."

"I broucht her tae see ye because she's got ever sae muny questions," volunteered Jennet.

"Does she noo?" Granny Laidlaw looked distinctly pleased. "Weel then, we'll settle doon tegither and tell a tale or twa."

Hannah could not look away from Gelleys's hands. She had never seen the like on a woman--as large as a man's, swollen and red but with fingers nimble enough to snap beans at an amazing rate. Under grizzled eyebrows she was watching Hannah, too.

"It's a guid thing ye found baith o' us here," said Granny Laidlaw. "What I dinna ken aboot Carryckcastle, Gelleys Smaill does."

"Ha!" Gelleys put back her head. "Listen tae her. Did ye no hear the minister preachin' on false modesty no' a week syne? There's naebodie wha' kens mair aboot Carryckcastle than Leezie Laidlaw, no' MacQuiddy--bless his creaky auld banes--nor the laird hissel'. Certainly no' Gelleys the washerwoman."

"Did you work at the castle, too?" Hannah asked.

"Fifty year," Gelleys said proudly, her great fingers stirring the shelled beans in their bowl. "Went intae service as a wee maid nae bigger than Jennet, and there I stayed until ma shanks wad carry me nae further." She thumped on her knee as if to reprimand it for its poor service. "Thirty year was I heid washerwoman, wi' three guid maids under me. Six days a week did we wash and press."

Jennet let out a resigned sigh, but Gelleys took no note.

"On Monanday table linen, on Tysday bed linen, on Wadensday and Fuirsday claes, on Freday rags and the like, and on Seturday--" She leaned forward and raised a finger to the air. "On Seturday we set soap. Just as Fiona is settin' soap this verra minute, her and the lasses. Is it no' sae, Jennet?"

"Aye," said Jennet. "They were hard at it when we came doon the brae."

"Ye see. And nivver a day did I miss except when ma lads came intae the werld, and when ma guidman left it."

"And sae was it," said Granny Laidlaw, reaching over to grasp Gelleys by the forearm.

The old lady laid her own hand over Granny's. "We've seen a thing or twa, ha' we no', Leezie?"

"That's aye true." Granny Laidlaw turned her face toward Hannah as if she could see her. "Ye've come tae ask aboot Lady Isabel, have ye no'?"

Hannah glanced at Jennet, who simply shrugged a shoulder in surprise.

"How did you know?"

"Why, it's Isabel wha broucht ye and yer family here, when aa is said and done. Isabel, and ma own dauchter Jean. It's nae wunder ye're curious."

"Ye canna find a soul at Carryckcastle tae tell it," said Gelleys, scowling into her bowl. "But auld carlines like us ha' naucht tae fear frae the truth. Set ye doon, lassie, and hark."

"On the morn my Jean turned ten years old, Isabel came intae the world," began Granny Laidlaw. "It was Lady Marietta's fourth confinement, ye ken--three sons she gave the earl, and aa stillborn. Ye can weel imagine what celebratin' there was at Carryckcastle that day--a healthy bairn, with her mother's bonnie face and her faither's brawlie constitution. And frae the moment oor Jean saw the wean, there was a bond between them."

"As close as sisters ever were," said Gelleys.

"Aye, that close," agreed Granny Laidlaw. "As soon as Isabel could walk she took tae followin' Jean aboot. She spent so much time belstairs that she was mair at hame in the kitchen than she was in the drawing room. I couldna bring mysel' tae send her awa', sic a bonnie lass she was and sae cheerfu'. But the day came--the summer she was four --that the laird decided that it wadna do for his lass tae be spendin' aa her time wi' the servants."

Jennet was following this story with as much interest and concentration as Hannah. "And that's when the lady made ma mither Isabel's nurse," she volunteered.

Granny Laidlaw's eyes seemed to be following some scene only she could see. "Sae it was. At fourteen, imagine. Nurse and nursery maid, too. It was a verra great honor, wi' Jean sae young. Some wad ca' it foolish tae give a lass sae much responsibility, but Isabel wad ha' nae other and it suited the laird as weel--he didna like the idea o' a strange nurse comin' intae Carryckcastle."

Hannah had been raised to respect the storyteller's rhythm and not to interrupt, but she was confused now and she had to ask. "And her mother? Wasn't she there to raise Isabel?"

"She was," said Granny Laidlaw, quite firmly, but Gelleys wrinkled her nose in disagreement.

"She was there in bodie, aye, but she wasna there in spirit."

A fine tension rose between the two old women, both of them silent for a moment. Jennet pursed her mouth, impatient and curious and unable to hide either of those things.

"Will ye no' tell the whole story, Granny?"

Gelleys sighed, rubbing the side of her nose with one red knuckle. "It's no' easy tellin' the truth aboot the people ye love best. Come, Leezie," she said in a companionable tone. "Shall I tell it?"