‘Lucky we’re both so thin,’ said Marnie, having resisted the offer of a full Highland tea with scones and cake. ‘I must have eaten more scones in the last ten days than in my entire life! I couldn’t possibly do justice to dinner if I had more than just a cup of tea now.’

Jeff directed them to a path beside the Finterie river that flowed through the grounds of the Lodge and on which the hotel owned the fishing on the near bank and they wandered happily along, Christopher eyeing the various pools and deciding how he would fish them if he had a rod with him and Marnie making castles in the air about all sorts of other things. Though she was impatient to find the particular castle of her dreams, she was so happy with the present that half of her wanted the day to go on for ever.

Over a drink before dinner they enquired if the Bartons knew anything about Eilean Dobhran and gave them a shortened version of the reason they had come.

‘You mean that deserted old house up the loch?’ asked Jeff. ‘Rumour has it that it belongs to someone who lives abroad. We’re newcomers here ourselves.’ He chuckled. ‘We’ve only lived in the area for a mere ten years – but it’s been empty all the time we’ve been here and I should think it must be in an awful state of disrepair. Why don’t you have an early dinner and then drive towards Upper Finterie, take the right hand fork where the road divides – it’s little more than a track really – and go up the loch on the eastern side for a couple of miles? It doesn’t get dark here at this time of year till quite late. You’ll get the most stunning view of Eilean Dobhran across the water – unbelievably romantic. Of course if you actually want to get to it you’ll have to go on the other road, but you can’t see the castle then. There’s an old lodge at the entrance to the drive but the actual house is hidden in the trees. I’ve never been right up to it myself because the gates are always padlocked.’

‘That’s a fantastic idea!’ said Marnie. ‘Let’s do that. What time could we have dinner?’

‘Whenever you like. Our fishing guests often want an early meal so that they can go on the river again after supper. Make your way to the dining room as soon as you’ve finished your drinks and I’ll go and forewarn Cherry you’d like to eat as soon as it’s ready.’

So they had an early dinner and climbed into the car again.

‘Nerves feeling strong?’ asked Marnie, glinting at him as she turned the ignition on.

‘Rock-like,’ said Christopher. ‘Prepared for anything!’