to Lord Kitchener, who fought in the
First World War. Now Kitchener was a
homosexual (zij weet dat Flans' broer
dat ook was, en dat dit hem en zijn
familie dwars heeft gezeten; maar ze
zegt er niets over); that was well-
known. I have read his biography: a
very fine man and a very fine leader of
men. As a matter of fact he was a
friend of my father's brother; they both
went to the same school. And my
father's brother was a great admirer of
Kitchener. And I went to this house. It
is a very masculin house, because old
Kitchener never married. Fie was
surrounded by his adoring officers, so
you can imagine what the ménage was
like... It is a very palacial county house,
which Hens loved of course, very nice
and very comfortable; and they gave
Hens a very nice room there. Hens
went there by introduction. And the
men who ran it, said they liked Hens
very much indeed. I do not know why,
but I found it upstairs very depressing.
These long galleries, very quiet, very
few people there, only about half a
dozen. The food did not suite Hens: it
was plain English food. Did not suite
him at all. And I had a sort of feeling,
that Hens was in the wrong place. You
know that sort of queer feeling, I
thought: why have you come here? I
said: "Are you happy, Hens?" He said:
"Well, I am very lonely." And I said: "I
do not think this is a suitable place for
you. To me it is completely haunted by
that old hobo: Kitchener." And Hens
said: "Yes, I do feel his presence."
Because you only had to suggest
something to Hens... And when I came
home, I sort of thought: oh dear, I wish
that Hens was not there. He does nog
fit in. I am sure Kitchener's ghost does
not like him. Something is going to
happen. He was a strange character,
Kitchener. And you do feel old
Kitchener. There is a big portrait of
him, a lugubrious looking man with a
Victorian moustache, you know, that
drooped down. And he looks down in a
disapproving sort of way on everybody
here from his portrait, you see.
Well, anyhow, he stayed there some
time, and then I had a telephone
message from a surgeon from the Can
terbury Hospital, saying: your husband
is having a emergency operation for
appendix. And he is in hospital now.
He said: "I thought, I let you better
know as next of kin. And I do not want
you to come down for two days time,
because he is not well enough to see
anybody. But he would like to see you
in two days." I went to see him, and he
was very ill. And I always think, that it
was influence. Kitchener got rid of him.
It was very snowy weather, and they
had to get an ambulance out from
Canterbury, and it was a very difficult
drive, because the snow in Kent is
much thicker than we get here. I can
go to four feet. And the ambulance had
a terrible journey, and poor Hens was
in pain all the time... Then... the
operation was not a success; they made
a mess of it and he had to go... he went
to Leeuwarden. He was in hospital
there... and that stopped him from
working...'
15. Havank meende met archiefstukken
te kunnen bewijzen, dat Anna-Maria
van Burmania door vaders afkomst
recht had op de titel: Anne-Marie
Comtesse de Passy et de Limouillet.
16. Destructieve invloed van een
geschilderd personage kende Havank
van Lord Kitchener's portret op Barham
bij Canterbury; zie noot 14.
Bemoediging en stimulans kende hij via
30
