AN ANGLER'S PARADISE loi 



valley. In front, and separated from it by the high 

 road, is a plantation of firs, while in the rear runs 

 a branch road to the north which leads to Loch 

 Clunie and Glenshiel. This is the old Tomdown 

 Inn. The present hotel, placed two or three hun- 

 dred yards to the eastward, built some thirteen years 

 ago, is quite a fine building, with an excellent 

 view; but I am not sure if the old house, after all, 

 were not the more enjoyable in which to spend a 

 holiday. 



The regular Tomdowner never thought of changing 

 his clothes for dinner, unless he were wet through ; 

 for dinner was not supposed to take place until 

 half-past eight, and at times it has been known to 

 be as late even as eleven before we sat down to 

 that meal. So it was hardly worth while bothering 

 to change, for nobody but the hardy fisherman ever 

 frequented the inn. But even when a party did not 

 return from a day's fishing at distant Loch Clunie 

 before eleven o'clock, the dinner would be always 

 served the same — soup, fish (trout), mutton, and 

 pudding, without the slightest murmur or complaint 

 from our amiable hostess. 



The movability of this feast, combined with the 

 not infrequent rankness of butter or sourness of 



