more
and more of a figure in it. This suited him thoroughly: he had already
identified himself with the place and its future, and entertained no
idea of going back to England or Germany to live. Within a year of his
arrival he had adopted South African nationality. He did go back to
England on a visit, however, in 1906. It was in the nature of an
old-home tour, for by this time a large proportion of the Oppenheimer
family had left Friedberg for good and settled down in England;
Ernest's brothers, Bernard, Gustav, Louis, and Otto were all there.
Louis, who was ten years older than Ernest, had married a London girl
named Charlotte Pollak. She had a younger sister named Mary Lina. By
the end of the year Ernest was on his way back to Kimberley with Mary
Lina as his wife. Mary Oppen-heimer was an unusual woman, with a true
understanding of the mysteries of finance. Old friends of the
Oppenheimers all agree in saying that she had a man's mind. A mind like
a razor, they sometimes add when they feel that the first description
is perhaps inadequate as praise. One extremist even said, "Sometimes I
used to think she was even better than Ernest at business."
They
had two children, Harry Frederick, who was bom in 1908, and Frank
Leslie, born in 1910. Frank was drowned at the age of twenty-five,
swimming off the coast of Madeira.
Ernest's
career in the government of Kimberley kept pace with his rise in the
diamond industry. He was elected a city councilor in 1908, while still
in his twenties: that was remarkable enough, but it was more
remarkable that he should have become mayor when he was only
thirty-four. In spite of what happened later it still pleases him to
think he achieved the post so young. The drawback wasn't obvious at the
time, but it be-
