‘Yes. I suppose there is a book about them.’
‘Hah!’ said Laura, mock amused. ‘Is there a book about them! There’s a whole literature, my dear. It’s a distinction in Scotland not to have written a book about the Islands.’
‘Have you any of them?’
‘We have practically all of them. Everyone who has ever come to stay here has brought one.’
‘Why didn’t they take them away with them?’
‘You’ll see why when you have a taste of them. You’ll find them on the bottom shelf. A whole row of them.’
He began to go through the row, gutting the books with a swift practised eye.
‘Why this sudden interest in the Hebrides?’ Laura asked.
‘Those singing sands that Wee Archie talked about stuck in my mind.’
‘That must be the first time Wee Archie has ever said anything that stuck in someone’s mind.’