"Right first time," he admitted, evidently pleased to see his work
admired. I thought of Garnesk's suspicion that our American friend was
engaged on detective work of some kind, and it struck me that with his
camera and his obvious talent he had an excellent excuse for going
almost anywhere, supposing he were called upon at any time to explain
his presence in some outlandish spot.
"You must have kept yourself exceedingly busy," I remarked in
conclusion.
After the meal we adjourned to the hut above the falls. Hilderman
certainly had some right to be proud of his view. It was magnificent.
We stood outside the door and gazed out to sea, north, south and west,
for some minutes.
"You have the same uninterrupted view from inside," said Hilderman, as
we mounted the three steps to the door. He held the door open, and I
stepped in first, followed by Dennis and Fuller. The window extended
the whole length of the room, and folded inwards and upwards, in the
same way as some greenhouse windows do. Suddenly I laughed aloud.
"What's the joke?" asked Hilderman.
"This," I said, pointing to a large carbon transparency of a mountain
under snow, which hung in the window on the north side. "You've no
idea how this has been annoying us over at Invermalluch."
"How?" asked Dennis.
"It swings about in the breeze," I replied, "and it reflects the light
and catches everybody's eye. It's a very beautiful photograph, Mr.
Hilderman, but, like many human beings, it's exceedingly unpopular
owing to the position it holds."
"A thousand apologies, Mr. Ewart," said the American. "It shall be
removed at once."
"Oh, not at all!" I protested. "Surely you are entitled to hang a
positive of a photograph in your window without receiving a protest
from neighbours who live nearly three miles away."
"That's Invermalluch Lodge, then, across the water," Dennis asked.
"Yes," I replied, and we forgot about the transparency, which remained
in undisputed possession of a pitch to which it was certainly
entitled. We sat and smoked, and looked out at the mountains of Skye
and the wonderful panorama of sea and loch, with an occasional glance
at the gurgling waterfall at our feet, and presently I picked up a
copy of an illustrated paper which was lying at my hand. I turned the
pages idly, and threw a cursory glance at the photographs of the
week's brides, and the latest efforts of the theatrical press agents,
and I noticed, without thinking anything of the fact, that one page
had been roughly torn out. I was about to remark that probably the
most interesting or amusing picture in the whole paper had been
accidentally destroyed, when Fuller leaned across Dennis, and took the
paper out of my hands.
"Don't insult Mr. Hilderman's precious view by reading the paper in
his smoking-room, Mr Ewart," he said, with a loud laugh. "As a
Highlander you should have more tact than that."
Hilderman turned round, and looked from one to other of us.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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