Ella, who was born a few years after our marriage, is our only
surviving child.

"Such is my history--a strange one, no doubt. Probably most persons
would regard me as an object of pity, to say the least. But I do not
share the opinion. I have had, in my way, much happiness; and, if I
have been deprived of privileges and blessings, which fall ordinarily to
the lot of Englishwomen, have also escaped many sorrows and trials, to
which in my own country I should have been exposed.

"But there are two points on which I should like to say something before
I conclude. I dare say you have thought it strange that I did not
communicate with my countrymen at Cape Town, when the colony fell into
their hands. But news travels so slowly in these wild and distant
regions, that I did not know with any certainty what had taken place
till long after the occurrence. Then, my husband's death for the time
drove all other thoughts from my mind; and when I had regained my
composure enough to attend once more to the affairs of my kingdom, and I
sent an embassy to the English Governor, I found that the colony had
been given back to the Dutch.

"The other matter is a more important one. I should be sorry for you,
Mr De Walden, to think that I made no effort to induce my husband to
adopt Christianity as his creed. It was a subject on which we often
talked, and though he was slow to accept ideas so wholly new, yet they
gradually grew upon him, and before his death he was a convert to
Christ.

"No Christian minister ever came into our neighbourhood during the whole
of our married life, or he would doubtless have gladly welcomed him, and
received baptism at his hands. As it was, I myself administered the
rite to him, when I saw that he was dying.

"I have done my best to bring up Ella in our faith, and to teach what I
could to others round me; but I hail your coming--the first preacher of
the Gospel I have encountered in this land--with the utmost
thankfulness, and trust you will remain among us as our teacher and
guide, assured that all the help and countenance that I can give shall
be most willingly and gladly bestowed."

She ceased, and De Walden, who had listened to her story with profound
interest, hastened to make answer.

"Be assured, gracious lady, that I will most cheerfully obey your
wishes. The hand of God is too plainly seen in what has occurred for me
to venture to refuse, even were I so inclined; but earnestly as I