"Oh, aye, ye mean the tree?" grumbles Lord Raeburn. "Aye, that be somethin' wurth arguing for. Rightfully half those apples belong to me as first, which is a vertiable fortune, as I'm sure ye know.

"Now, I know that there was ne'er any formal contract as such between my father an' the old Lord Lonsdale, but he like as not built this house from the money those apples brought 'im.

"We started planning, thinkin' that we'd get the marks from those apples every year. When the old Lord died, of course, things looked bleak, but Lord Lonsdale let us keep the share. Great friend he was o'ours, back then.

"Thing is, we got ourselves intae a spot of bother. More 'n more apples fell on our side - like I could stop 'em, mind! Anyroad, Lord Lonsdale started tae feel that he was givin' more than his due tae me and my family, and that we shouldnae get the half any more.

"Course," Raeburn mutters, "I tried tae be reasonable, but he was right royal angry. Told us we'd no see hide nor hair of marks from those apples ever again. 'ccused us of stealing 'im, he did. Now that, that I couldnae take from someone who was supposed tae be my friend.

"Now, it wouldnae hae been so bad if we hadnae needed the money. We'd taken the marks from the apples fer granted and spent money we didnae have that year. Had we not got anything, we'd have had tae sell the house, or such.

"I tried tae tell Lord Lonsdale, and such, but he wouldnae listen. Called me a money-grubber, and threatened to set his attorneys upon me. Beat him to it, mind. We had nae choice, we needed the marks. Now - now we need them e'en more to pay the flamin' attorneys.

"Now, I appreciate ye tryin' to settle the accounts, but we've nae managed tae do it ourselves in almost six years. Mae estate's goin slowly tae rack and ruin, not that my selfish neighbour cares a jot about it.

"But, I'm all outta hope. I dinnae think, what with the court's bias towards the older families, that we'll be winnin' the settlement. If ye've got an idea, by the Lord, lets 'ear it."



"The heavens keep the answers to our worldly problems...
the key is to know how to understand their ancient language"