But I need scarcely say
that as I urged them to keep the matter secret it was talked about
far and wide. Indeed, as I afterwards found to my cost, there were
paragraphs in the newspapers stating that the eccentric amateur
painter and heir of one branch of the Aylwins had at last gone to
Japan, and that as his deep interest in a certain charming beauty of
an un-English type was proverbial, it was expected that he would
return with a Japanese, or perhaps a Chinese wife.
But I did not go to Japan; and what prevented me?
My reason told me that what I had just seen near Beddgelert was an
optical illusion. I had become very learned on the subject of optical
illusions ever since I had known Sinfi Lovell, and especially since I
had seen that picture of Winnie in the water near Bettws y Coed,
which I have described in an earlier chapter. Every book I could get
upon optical illusions I had read, and I was astonished to find how
many instances are on record of illusions of a much more powerful
kind than mine.
And yet I could not leave Snowdon.
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