IN THE HIGHLANDS 5 



tlie French officers were said not to be very good at 

 English, I was asked to entertain half a dozen of them 

 at luncheon. It turned out that the mother of one of 

 these officers was then actually owner of the Chateau de 

 Talhouet and was residing in it ! 



On the Monday after the gay scene in the Grande Place 

 of Quimperle, my mother and I drove out to the chateau 

 that she might show me the very room in which I was 

 born; but though the then o^ner, whose name was, I 

 think, the Comte de Richemond, was most kind and 

 hospitable, he had so much improved and altered the 

 chateau that my mother could hardly make sure of the 

 actual room where I first saw the light. One thing, how- 

 ever, she did recognise, which she had often described to 

 me, and that was a magnificent specimen of the tulip-tree 

 which grew on the lawn. How well do I remember the 

 dinner in the inn at Quimperle, where everything was 

 very old-fashioned, and where the host sat at the head 

 and the hostess at the foot of the table. There was great 

 excitement over something unusual which had occurred 

 that morning — namely, the catching by the Gendarmes of 

 a young priest poaching the river, with a fresh-run 

 salmon in his possession. The ladies all took the side 

 of the priest, whilst most of the men supported the 

 authorities. The salmon was to be sold by public 

 auction, and the ladies all swore solemnly that none of 

 them would bid at the sale, as it was monstrous that 

 their Father Confessor should be deprived of the fish 

 which he had captured so cleverly. 



When my father and his family left Brittany, we 

 stayed a short time in Jersey, but all I can remember 



