Lyle. “No, Peter, it is strange.”
Peter. “And they will have it, sir, that the pike wasna canny, and they say that, dead though he be, his ghost still haunts the auld loch.”
Fitzroy, laughing. “The ghost of a pike, Peter? Well, well, well; we live to learn.”
Peter. “And what for no, sir?”
Fitzroy. “Did you bury him, Peter?”
Peter. “No, sir, no, on land. I put him cannily back into the loch again. He lay on his side for a whole day, then sank to the bottom afore ma ain een. Dead as a door nail.”
Fitzroy. “I doubt it, Peter.”
Peter. “Sir?”
Fitzroy. “Nothing, Peter, nothing. By the way, Lyle, how came this uncanny fish, that seems so strangely connected with the fortunes of Glen Lyle, into your possession.”
Lyle. “Peter can tell you better than I. He is old, and remembers.”