The scottish roots of Roxy Loudrige

Gregor first declined the offer of using the stable because in winter it would be too cold to work there.

He also hated the idea of having to go through the rain and the snow in winter when going from the main house to the stable. He would rather use a space in the main house. But this time his parents did not give in and after a couple of weeks, Gregor settled for the stable as his laboratory.

Gregor spend many hours in his laboratory trying all kinds of combinations of dangerous chemicals hoping photo 3: Gregor McGiff at work in his to make something powerful. He tried his inventions in laboratory the woods, where he blew up many trees. But after months of rather randomly trying, he still did not produce an explosive powerful enough to be competitive with existing explosives.

As his parents expected, Gregor's affetuation with explosives got less over time. First he stopped going to his laboratory when it snowed and soon after that even some light rain became too much of a hurdle for him to take.

This all came to a change though after Hamish and Mathilda McGiff suffered a tragic accident. Due to heavy rainfall the roads to the estate had gotten so muddy that their carriage slipped down a steep hill of the glen. Both parents and their driver were killed instantaneously. Gregor, now without guidance of his beloved parents, became completely obsessed with his dream of becoming a famous chemist. He took out a loan on what was now his estate, and had a modern photo 4: Ruin of main house chemical laboratory installed in the main house. Now, not hindered anymore by rain nor snow, he started to work on his explosives feverously.

It was in the middle of summer when Gregor suffered an almost fatal incident. After working all day in his laboratory, Gregor went upstairs to his bedroom to get some sleep. He had forgotten to close all the windows of his laboratory and thus it happened that the wind tipped over a candle into the latest combination of chemicals Gregor was working on. Alas this time Gregor's combination worked in the way he wanted it to work for years. The explosion was so powerful that it ruined the house beyond repair and almost killed Gregor and his housekeeper. photo 5: Cottage where Gregor McGiff Gregor was very lucky to still be alive. He even didn't lived after selling Blue Cairn have a scratch. But since he had mortgaged the house, this incident put him into bankruptcy. He had to sell the Blue Cairn estate and move into a simple cottage.

Gregor had new priorities now. The first thing he planned, was to get to some money again. He was still young enough to be an attractive partner. He also still had his gently manners and his good looks.