This changed their schedule, for even my grandfather could not order full tide at the appointed time, and his daughters were allowed to swim only when the tide was incoming, for then there was less danger of being swept out to sea.
One day my mother was retiring into her machine after frolicking in the waves, when she noticed how the sun warmed the boards of her little cabin on wheels, which was almost afloat. The door opened seaward and she had been told, as indeed her sisters had been also, to close it carefully before removing as much as one black stocking, for Grandfather still feared the inquisitive periscopes. What nonsense, she thought, leaving the door open. No one can see me, not even Mademoiselle, and she removed her cap and let her hair fall to her waist. She became excited by the warm touch of the sun as she stepped out of her suit and stood at the open door, looking out at the waves. The black stockings suddenly appeared hateful to her, and she stripped them off too. She stretched luxuriously in the sun, for it seemed hotter on the boards when she lay down close to the tide that slapped the wood within an inch of her, and lapped at the top step of her cabin. Then, perhaps, she fell asleep.
When her father attached the little donkey which drew the bathing machines up to the beach, he left hers until the last, for she always took the longest time to dress. Her sisters, Mademoiselle the governess, and dear papa, were all waiting on the beach, and they found her naked as Andromeda chained to her rock, lying with her eyes half-closed on the damp floor of the little house on wheels. Mademoiselle shrieked and said that she had undoubtedly fainted from the sun, but she smiled as she lay there and continued to smile as they helped her toward the house.
They took her home to put her to bed, but she never got there that afternoon, for my grandfather ordered them all locked up in the old nursery, and they fluttered up the dark staircase in their white dresses, Mademoiselle chasing close behind, followed by the eyes of five young British officers who had come to take over the island.
Apparently, treacherous Mademoiselle had written to the authorities in London, saying that Grandfather thought of nothing but submarines. The authorities had drawn their own conclusions, and had decided to send a garrison to the island to dispossess him. Grandfather’s worst fears were thus realized. Young men, young officers. Here they were, quartered in the house, in close contact with his daughters. It was unthinkable.
The young ladies were greatly excited, and spent the rest of the afternoon making spit curls, for they knew that they could not be locked up forever. But my mother sat in the window with that same little smile playing about her lips, and the window looked out to sea.
Of course they all went down to dinner, and of course they flirted with the young officers, and of course they married them. My mother married the one who had blue eyes and red hair, but it was not much of a romance, for he was soon recalled and sent to France where he was killed before he ever could see the small, quiet son she bore him.
When my grandfather bought the island of Herm he wished to turn it into an earthly paradise, and decided to import a number of exotic plants, birds, and animals. He felt that Herm would be capable of sustaining flamingos as well as sparrows or starlings, and the soft, damp climate encouraged him in the idea. He planted several acres of palms and cacti, camelia bushes which throve, hibiscus and mangoes which did not, fig trees and pines, cedar of Lebanon, an avenue of eucalyptus leading to the house, and a kraal of thorn bushes which he announced was to be for the lions.
Several weeks later a half-dozen mangy lords of the jungle were delivered. They had been bought from a German menagerie and they staggered onto dry land looking more than a little seasick, overcome as much by the smell of the terrified fishermen and their smacks, as from the journey up the cliffside by means of tackles.
These beasts were followed by an assortment of wildlife which Grandfather thought suitable. There were zebras, several ostriches, a family of kangaroos, various sorts of horned and hoofed things considered decorative and not dangerous. There was also an assortment of beautiful birds which were obtained at great expense. These last were no sooner set free at Grandfather’s orders, than they left for some hopeless, unplanned migratory journey and were seen no more. It was decided that the lions would be happier if they were allowed to roam at large on the island of Jethou, which is little more than an immense rock lying across a narrow channel from Herm. From time to time they were thrown quartered lambs from a boat while Grandfather “studied” them through his glasses from the opposite shore. They continued to live there in a state of nature until the island was occupied by Australian troops during the war.
Grandfather was a stern man who allowed no one to question his authority. If things turned out badly he was always certain that it was the fault of those who had not carried out his orders properly. Nevertheless, in a far corner of the island, a mile or two from his house, there stood the evidence of one tragedy for which he did feel responsible. Grandfather went to his grave feeling that he had the blood of three Japanese on his hands, and this is how it happened.
Grandfather’s good friend, Lord de Haviland, who lived in Guernsey, had spent much of his youth traveling in the Orient, collecting things which had to be numbered, knocked down, and crated to be carried off home. In the course of his travels, his fancy had been struck by a small Chinese temple which he had bought on the spot. He had ordered it dismantled and brought to Guernsey, where it ornamented a corner of his garden which was sufficiently damp to grow a thicket of bamboo. Grandfather had seen it there and admired it extremely. He not only admired the object itself, but he had an intense admiration for his old friend’s manner of doing things. He wanted the temple for his island of Herm, and was even preparing to send workmen to take it in Lord de Haviland’s absence but gave up the idea when the latter, having got wind of the plot, suggested an alternative.
He told Grandfather that his son, who was at that time an undersecretary in the British legation in Tokyo, might find a suitable temple there which could be sent back to Herm. After an exchange of letters, the younger De Haviland answered that he could not find a temple, but that he knew of a beautiful small house belonging to a noble Japanese family which was for sale. Grandfather had become most impatient, and he decided at once to send his secretary to Japan with the most explicit instructions that the house was to be brought to Herm exactly as it stood when he first saw it. He particularly stressed the fact that he wanted everything inside the house to be brought along, for he was anxious that his Japanese house should be more complete than the De Haviland temple in Guernsey. The secretary was a German, and from his long training with Grandfather, who meant exactly what he said, was accustomed to unquestioning obedience.
Some six months later the house arrived in several hundred numbered crates. Three Japanese came with it: a woman and two men. Grandfather at first surmised that the men had come to supervise the reconstruction, but thought it a little strange that a woman should have come, too, until it occurred to him that she was there to arrange the interior. He was most pleased at the unexpected foresight of his agent, and was preparing to compliment him when he appeared to give his account.
The secretary stated simply that he did not know who these people were, but that they had been in the house at the time he first saw it, and he had brought them along in an attempt to fulfill his orders to the letter. The Japanese had been slightly dazed at the rapidity with which their home had been dismantled, but as their books, clothes, cooking utensils, and bed covers were all rapidly put in crates, they had followed him blindly to the boat. “No discretion,” muttered Grandfather, and called the Japanese in order to question them. They could not be questioned. They spoke no European language and no one on the island of Herm spoke a word of Japanese. Grandfather sent for an interpreter, but before one could be brought the house had been reassembled and it was too late. The two gentlemen had killed themselves in what grandfather reported to have been a most untidy way, and the lady had jumped off a cliff into the channel, very probably because there was no volcano handy.
The reason for their behavior was never very accurately determined. The most logical explanation seemed to be that the secretary had entered the house at a moment of great
