So had his reputation. Every single person who lived in the New Forest seemed to know something about him and were talking about him. It was Ross Hamilton this, Ross Hamilton that, until Ruth was tired of hearing his name. He was a great disciplinarian, so it was said. At the same time he was well liked and respected by everyone who knew him, not least those who worked for him. He was one of the best Foresters in the country—indeed the best. He not only knew all there was to know about trees, he also knew how to get the best price for the timber that he grew. Added to all this he was fantastically attractive. The women up in Scotland, where he was coming from, all raved about him. He could have any woman he chose, yet strangely enough he had remained a bachelor.‘I don’t know what you think,’ Ruth said to Gareth Williams with her usual candour, ‘but it sounds to me as though he’ll be full of his own importance. Well, I for one won’t be worshipping at his feet.’Gareth laughed.
