r) to Herm. I said to the
skipper that I supposed there must be many dangerous submerged rocks. 'My
dear fellow!' exclaimed the skipper, driven to familiarity by my naivete.
And with that we reached the island. Upon the end of a pier stood a tall
figure, solitary. 'My host!' thought I. Not so. Merely an advance guard:
his engineer. We greeted--my reception being that of some foreign
potentate--and I was led up a fine winding road that made me think of
Samoa and Vailima and all the beauties of the South Seas. Upon the road
came another figure--this time a young man who made a friend of me at a
glance. He now took me in hand. Together we made the rest of the journey
along this beautiful road, and to the cottage of residence. I entered.
There was a scramble. At last I met my host, who leapt from bed to welcome
me!

"From that moment my holiday was delightful. The island is really
magnificent. Short of a stream, it has everything one could wish for in
such a place. It has cliffs, a wood, a common fields under cultivation,
fields used as pasture, caves, shell beaches, several empty cottages. Its
bird life is wealthy in cuckoos and other magic-bringers; its flowers have
extraordinary interest; dogs and cattle and horses give domestic life, and
a boat or two may be used for excursions to Jethou, a smaller island near
by. And Mackenzie has this ideal place to live in for as much of the year
as he likes. None may gather there without his permission. He is the lord
of the manor, and his boundaries are the sea and the sky. We walked about
the islands, and saw their beauties, accompanied by a big dog--a Great
Dane--which coursed rabbits and lay like a dead fish in the bottom of a
small boat. And as each marvel of the little paradise presented itself, I
became more and more filled with that wicked thing, envy. But I believe
envy does not make much progress when the owner of the desired object so
evidently appreciates it with more gusto even than the envious one. Reason
is against envy in such a case. To have said, 'He doesn't appreciate it'
would have been a lie so manifest that it did not even occur to me. He
does. That is the secret of Mackenzie's personal ability to charm. He is
filled with vitality, but he is also filled with the power to take extreme
delight in the delight of others and to better it. Moreover, he gives one
the impression of understanding islands. Herm has been in his possession
for something more than a year, an