It was in the middle of the
shooting, and did not create a town round itself as do sumptuous
mansions, to the great detriment of that seclusion which is
favourable to game. 'Look at Killancodlem,' Dobbes had been heard
to say--'a very fine house for ladies to flirt in; but if you find
a deer within six miles of it I will eat him first and shoot him
afterwards.' There was a Spartan simplicity about Crummie-Toddie
which pleased the Spartan mind of Reginald Dobbes.
'Ugly do you call it?'
'Infernally ugly,' said Lord Gerald.
'What did you expect to find? A big hotel, and a lot of cockneys.
If you come after grouse, you must come to what the grouse think
pretty.'
'Nevertheless, it is ugly,' said Silverbridge, who did not choose
to be 'sat upon'. 'I have been at shootings in Scotland before,
and sometimes they are not ugly. This I call beastly.' Whereupon
Reginald Dobbes turned upon his heel and walked away.
'Can you shoot?' he said afterwards to Lord Gerald.
'I can fire off a gun, if you mean that,' said Gerald.
'You have never shot much?'
'Not what you call very much.
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