Part 1 (2/2)
”Well,” said John crossly, wis.h.i.+ng Hamish would speak for himself. ”We all like a cup of coffee and...”
”I do not pay taxes to entertain public servants,” said Lady Jane. ”Go about your business, Constable.”
The policeman gazed down at her with a look of amiable stupidity in his hazel eyes. He made a move to step around her. Lady Jane blocked his path.
”Do you take your coffee regular, Officer?” asked Marvin Roth. He was a tall, pear-shaped man with a domed bald head and thick horn-rimmed gla.s.ses. He looked rather like the wealthy upper-eastside Americans portrayed in some New Yorker New Yorker cartoons. cartoons.
Hamish broke into speech for the first time. ”I mostly take tea,” he said in a soft Highland voice. ”But I aye take the coffee when I get the chance.”
”He means, do you take milk and sugar?” interposed John Cartwright, who had become used to translating Americanisms.
”Yes, thank you, sir,” said Hamish. Lady Jane began to puff with outrage as Marvin poured a cup of coffee and handed it over her shoulder to the constable. Alice Wilson let out a nervous giggle and put her hand over her mouth to stifle it. Lady Jane gave her shoulders a ma.s.sive shrug and sent the cup of coffee flying.
There was an awkward silence. Hamish picked up the cup from the floor and looked at it thoughtfully. He looked slowly and steadily at Lady Jane, who glared back at him triumphantly.
”Oh, pullease pullease give the policeman his coffee,” sighed Amy Roth. She was a well-preserved blonde with large, cow-like eyes, a heavy soft bosom, and surprisingly tough and wiry tennis-playing wrists. give the policeman his coffee,” sighed Amy Roth. She was a well-preserved blonde with large, cow-like eyes, a heavy soft bosom, and surprisingly tough and wiry tennis-playing wrists.
”No,” said Lady Jane stubbornly while John Cartwright flapped his notes and prayed for deliverance. Why wouldn't Hamish just go?
Lady Jane turned her back on Hamish and stared at Marvin as if defying him to pour any more coffee. Alice Wilson watched miserably. Why had she come on this awful holiday? It was costing so much, much more than she could afford.
But as she watched, she saw to her amazement the policeman had taken a sizeable chunk of Lady Jane's tightly clad bottom between thumb and forefinger and was giving it a hearty pinch.
”You pinched my b.u.m!” screamed Lady Jane.
”Och, no,” said the policeman equably, moving past the outraged lady and pouring himself another cup of coffee. ”It will be them Hielan nudges. Teeth on them like the pterodactyls.”
He ambled back to his armchair by the window and sat down, nursing his coffee cup.
”I shall write to that man's superior officer,” muttered Lady Jane. ”Is anyone going to pour?”
”I reckon we'll just help ourselves, honey,” said Amy Roth sweetly.
Seeing that there was going to be no pleasant chatter over the cups, John Cartwright decided to begin his lecture.
Warming to his subject as he always did, he told them of the waters they would fish, of the habits of the elusive salmon, of the dos and don'ts, and then he handed around small plastic packets of thin transparent nylon cord.
He was about to call Heather down to tell her it was time to show the cla.s.s how to tie a leader, when he suddenly felt he could not bear to see his wife humiliated by the terrible Lady Jane. She had been remarkably quiet during his lecture, but he felt sure she was only getting her second wind. He decided to go ahead on his own.
”I am now going to tell you how to tie a leader,” he began.
”What on earth's a leader?” snapped Lady Jane.
”A leader,” explained John, ”is the thin, tapering piece of nylon which you attach to your line. A properly tapered leader, properly cast, deposits the fly lightly on the surface. The b.u.t.t section of the leader, which is attached to the line, is only a bit less in diameter than the line. The next section is a little lighter, and so on down to the tippet. Now you must learn to tie these sections of leader together to form the tapering whole. The knot we use for this is called a blood knot. If you haven't tied this thin nylon before, you'll find it very difficult. So I'll pa.s.s around lengths of string for you to practice on.”
”I saw some of these leader things already tapered in a fis.h.i.+ng shop,” said Lady Jane crossly. ”So why do we have to waste a perfectly good morning sitting indoors tying knots like a lot of Boy Scouts?”
Heather's calm voice sounded from the doorway, and John heaved a sign of relief.
”I am Heather Cartwright. Good morning, everybody. You were asking about leaders.”
”Commercially tied leaders are obtainable in knotless forms,” said Heather, advancing into the room. ”You can buy them in lengths of seven and a half to twelve feet. But you will find the leader often gets broken above the tippet and so you will have to learn to tie it anyway. Now, watch closely and I'll show you how to do it. You can go off and fish the Marag if you want, Major,” added Heather. ”No need for you to sit through all this again.”
”No experts in fly fis.h.i.+ng,” said the major heartily. ”Always something to learn. I'll stay for a bit.”
Alice Wilson wrestled with the knot. She would get one side of it right only to discover that the other side had miraculously unravelled itself.
The child, Charlie, was neatly tying knots as if he had fallen out of his cradle doing so. ”Can you help me?” she whispered. ”You're awfully good.”
”No, I think that's cheating,” said the child severely. ”If you don't do it yourself, you'll never learn.”
Alice blushed miserably. ”I'll show you,” said a pleasant voice on her other side. Alice found Jeremy Blythe surveying her sympathetically. He took the string from her and began to demonstrate.
After the cla.s.s had been struggling for several minutes, Heather said, ”Have your leaders knotted by the time we set out tomorrow. Now if you will all go to your rooms and change, we'll meet back here in half an hour. John will take you up to the Marag and show you how to cast.”
”Well, see you in half an hour,” said Jeremy cheerfully. ”Your name's Alice, isn't it?”
Alice nodded shyly. ”And mine's Daphne,” said a mocking voice at Jeremy's elbow, ”or had you forgotten?”
”How could I?” said Jeremy. ”We travelled up together on the same awful train.”
They walked off arm in arm, and Alice felt even more miserable. For a moment she had hoped she would have a friend in Jererny. But that fearfully sophisticated Daphne had quite obviously staked a claim on his attentions.
Lady Jane surveyed Alice's powder-blue Orion trouser suit with pale, disapproving eyes. ”I hope you've brought something suitable to wear,” she said nastily. ”You'll frighten the fish in that outfit.”
Alice walked hurriedly away, not able to think of a suitable retort. Of course, she had thought of plenty by the time she reached the privacy of her bedroom, but then, that was always the way.
She looked at her reflection in the long gla.s.s in her hotel bedroom. The trouser suit had looked so bright and smart in London. Now it looked tawdry and cheap.
The stupid things one did for love, thought Alice miserably as she pulled out an old pair of corduroy trousers, an army sweater and Wellington boots and prepared to change her clothes.
For Alice was secretary to Mr Thomas Patterson-James. Mr Patterson-James was chief accountant of Baxter and Berry, exporters and importers. He was forty-four, dark, and handsome-and married. And Alice loved him pa.s.sionately.
He would tease her and ruffle her hair and call her 'a little suburban miss', and Alice would smile adoringly back and wish she could become smart and fas.h.i.+onable.
Mr Patterson-James often let fall hints that his marriage was not a happy one. He had sighed over taking his annual vacation in Scotland but explained it was the done thing.
Everyone who was anyone, Alice gathered, went to Scotland in August to kill things. If you weren't slaughtering grouse, you were gaffing salmon.
So Alice had read an article about the fis.h.i.+ng school in The Field The Field and had promptly decided to go. She imagined the startled admiration on her boss's face when she casually described landing a twenty-pounder after a brutal fight. and had promptly decided to go. She imagined the startled admiration on her boss's face when she casually described landing a twenty-pounder after a brutal fight.
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