‘Well, it’s a listed building for one thing, so if anyone were minded to restore it – for whatever purpose – they would immediately face all sorts of complications.’ He smiled his sweet slow smile. ‘Ruined castles are two a penny in the Highlands . . . until, that is, you want to start doing things to them. Then they become verra, verra expensive indeed, verra verra difficult and verra time-consuming! No one would be likely to put up the kind of money it would require to put this one in order unless they owned it – but, and here’s the snag, it wouldn’t then be a case of doing whatever you fancied once you’d bought it, even if you had a great deal of money to spare. There are a lot of restrictions, a lot of controversial views and a lot of powerful lobbies in the conservation world. There are those who think a ruin should be preserved as a ruin, especially if it enhances a scenic and romantic view in the eyes of the public; then there are those who believe in restoration and making a house habitable . . . after all the original purpose for a house . . . but they find it hard to agree among themselves as to which period you should be looking at when you restore a building that’s been through many incarnations. Are you going way back to its origins as a fortified tower house, aggressively vertical, with impenetrably thick walls and a few turrets, or to a mid-eighteenth century restoration of the original – a romantic ideal of a gentle-man’s country seat with fine Georgian rooms and graceful plasterwork? Or are you favouring the high Victorian love affair with all things Scottish – and the Victorians did some very fine and sympathetic renovations? Where do you start and where do you stop and who has the final say?’

‘Why does Mr Drummond hang on to it if he doesn’t want to cope with it himself? It seems weird. Pointless. Wasteful.’

‘On the contrary, I think he feels a great responsibility for its future and he won’t let it go to just anybody. I think he’s hoping the right buyer will turn up sometime, and then he might – might – be persuaded to sell.’

Marnie and Christopher stared at him.

‘Have you met him? Does he ever come over?’ asked Christopher.