Small Island

A few days later, Gilbert is enjoying his day off. He’s reading a newspaper on a bench outside the church when he notices that an old man seems to be following him. Gilbert wonders if he’s an inept Nazi spy, or simply a curious man who wants to “feel the hair of a colored man.” Gilbert walks through the fields and the man follows. Frustrated and wondering if the man means to harm him, he finally turns around and politely asks him what he’s doing.

The man doesn’t respond. Suddenly, a low-flying airplane passes overhead. While Gilbert is startled, the old man throws himself to the muddy ground, terrified. Gilbert realizes that he’s mentally ill, and that he might need help. Gilbert asks the man if he should take him home, and the man nods and leads him to a farmhouse.

Gilbert is anxious when he knocks on the door; he’s lived in England long enough to know that most white people are initially afraid of him. However, the attractive woman who answers the door isn’t concerned with him but simply asks, without preamble, where he found the old man. Gilbert explains that he’s been followed the entire afternoon, and the woman explains that “he thinks he knows you.”

The woman starts to shut the door on Gilbert but he hangs around, “not ready to leave such a pretty woman.” Eventually, worn down by his jokes, she invites him in for tea and introduces herself as Queenie Bligh. The old man is her father-in-law, and his name is Arthur.