Part 6 (1/2)

Several more days passed before I was allowed out of that little war-stained rooht I entreatedthat he feared lest any ain or even the cut artery to burst Moreover, the wound was not healing very well, the spear that caused it having been dirty or perhaps used to skin dead anirene, that in those days generally h I was treated only with cold water, for antiseptics were then unknown, rene appeared

Whatthem I saw very little of Marie, who now only entered the place in the coed to ask her why she did not corew troubled as she whispered back, ”Because it is not allowed, Allan,” and then without another word left the place

Why, I wondered toup inon-house Marie had never spoken to ed to collect a good deal of infor him and his business

It appeared that he was the only child of Henri Marais's sister, who oa Bay of the name of Pereira, who had come to the Cape Colony to trade many years before and settled there

Both he and his ere dead, and their son, Hernando, Marie's cousin, had inherited all their very considerable wealth

Indeed, now I re heard this Hernando, or Hernan, as the Boers called him for short, spoken of in past years by the Heer Marais as the heir to great riches, since his father hadin wine and spirits under some Government monopoly which he held Often he had been invited to visit Maraisfontein, but his parents, who doted on him and lived in one of the settled districts not far from Cape Toould never allow hiions

Since their death, however, things had changed It appeared that on the decease of old Pereira the Governor of the Colony had withdrawn the wine and spirit monopoly, which he said was a job and a scandal, an act that h he needed no more money, and had caused him to throw himself heart and soul into the scheed as one of the organisers of the Great Trek which was in conteun, into the partially explored land beyond the borders of the Colony, where the Dutch farmers proposed to set up dominions of their own

That was the story of Hernando Pereira, as to be--nay, who had already become--my rival for the hand of the sweet and beautiful Marie Marais

One night when my father and I were alone in the little roo his evening portion of Scripture aloud, I plucked up e to tell him that I loved Marie and wished tothe attack of the Kaffirs on the stead

”Love and war indeed!” he said, looking at n of surprise, for it appeared that he was already acquainted with our secret This was not wonderful, for he infor except rave of Marie in theterms Also Marie herself, when I was at ht out that she lovedkindly, ”My poor boy, I fear that you have fallen into great trouble”

”Why, father?” I asked ”Is it wrong that we should love each other?”

”Not wrong, but, in the circumstances, quite natural--I should have foreseen that it was sure to happen No, not wrong, but in with, I do not wish to see you ner and become ood many years hence, for you are only a boy, Allan, you would find an English wife, and I still hope it”

”Never!” I ejaculated

”Never is a long word, Allan, and I dare say that what you are so sure is iry enough at the tiht of the my oishes, perhaps prejudices, aside, I think your suit hopeless Although Henri Marais likes you well enough and is grateful to you just now because you have saved the daughter wholish bitterly I believe that he would allishlishman, as you are, and unless you can make money, ht make ood shot”

”Allan, I do not think you will ever make much money, it is not in your blood; or, if you do, you will not keep it We are an old race, and I know our record, up to the time of Henry VIII at any rate Not one of us was ever commercially successful Let us suppose, however, that you should prove yourself the exception to the rule, it can't be done at once, can it? Fortunes don't grow in a night, like ht have soainst a man who has the luck, or rather the money in his pocket”

”What do youup

”I mean Hernando Pereira, Allan, Marais's nepheho they say is one of the richest men in the Colony I know that he wishes to marry Marie”

”How do you know it, father?”

”Because Marais told me so this afternoon, probably with a purpose

He was struck with her beauty when he first saw her after your escape, which he had not done since she was a child, and as he stopped to guard the house while the rest went after the Quabies--well, you can guess

Such things go quickly with these Southernroan that was ready to burst from them, for I felt the hopelessness of the situation How could I compete with this rich and fortunate man, who naturally would be favoured of my betrothed's father? Then on the blackness of my despair rose a star of hope I could not, but perchance Marie -natured and very faithful She was not to be bought, and I doubted whether she could be frightened