Silverbridge
brought his brother and Frank Tregear,--having refused a most
piteous petition on the subject from Major Tifto. With Popplecourt
of course came Reginald Dobbes, who was, in truth, to manage
everything, and Lord Nidderdale, whose wife had generously
permitted him this recreation. The shooting was in the west of
Perthshire, known as Crummie-Toddie, and comprised an enormous
acreage of so-called forest and moor. Mr Dobbes declared that
nothing like it had as yet been produced in Scotland. Everything
had been made to give way to deer and grouse. The thing had been
managed so well that the tourist nuisance had been considerably
abated. There was hardly a potato patch left in the district, nor
a head of cattle to be seen. There were no inhabitants remaining,
or so few that they could be absorbed in game-preserving or
cognate duties. Reginald Dobbes, who was very great at grouse, and
supposed to be capable of outwitting deer by venatical wiles more
perfectly than any other sportsman in Great Britain, regarded
Crummie-Toddie as the nearest thing there was to a Paradise on
Earth.
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