Effie felt a jolt at the words. Was Lorna jealous that Effie had bagged a smile as well as a tip from the handsome visitor? Or was it worse than that – had Lorna seen the young lord standing outside her cottage last night?

‘Two shillings, I heard.’

‘Oh. Aye.’ Effie kept her gaze down as she scrambled back down the slope. ‘Father wants to buy another cow.’

‘It’ll cost more than two shillings to get a cow.’

‘Not if we buy it ourselves.’

Lorna glanced up from scrubbing. ‘You mean, cut out the factor?’

‘Why not? We’re not obliged to spend every farthing we make through him.’

‘That’s true enough. But still, he wouldn’t be pleased.’

Effie shrugged. ‘Father says we should sail to Harris and buy the cow ourselves.’

‘I daresay you could. But that’d be a rough crossing in the skiff, even on a day like this,’ Lorna warned. ‘The damp would be no good for his bones.’

Effie knew she was right. The villagers’ boat wasn’t intended for open water crossings. ‘We could travel back with a trawler, like Mary did.’

‘Mary?’ Lorna frowned.

‘When she was sick and had to go to the mainland. Captain McGregor took her on his way past.’

Lorna frowned. ‘I don’t remember that.’ As a qualified nurse, she had immediately assumed a role as the island’s medic when she arrived; she knew every villager’s medical history and complaint.

‘It must have been before your time,’ Effie shrugged.

They had finished filling the pails now. They scrambled back up the steep grassy banks of the stream, Lorna untucking her skirt and straightening herself, before walking together down the slope.

‘Of course, it might not be necessary to buy another cow,’ Lorna said meaningfully.