which was to consolidate the great
South African Union. She saw herself giving this impetus, because it
seemed to be the service life asked of her, and following it up by a
wise and steadying influence upon the man who was likely always to be
in the forefront of South Africa's politics.

And yet, sometimes in the silence of the night, how her spirit
shuddered and shrank from it, lying bare and desolate and bleeding
under the hopeless, unconquerable ache for that strong Englishman in
the north--that soldier-policeman for whom she would willingly have
foregone all pride of place, all luxury of wealth, all satisfaction of
achievement! Yet this he would never know, seeing her, as he ever
must, framed in a vast fortune from which she could not extricate
herself. She thought if she might choose, she would remain quietly
with her father for ever, doing good, as he, by stealth and without
ostentation, feeding her heart on a memory that would never die; but
here the spirit of self-sacrifice intervened, and gave her no hope of
rest but in fulfilment of what she believed life asked of her.

And so the day of decision came, and all unconsciously Diana struck
the final note. In the morning, glancing through various papers,
magazines, and pamphlets with an extraordinary skill to glean any
little essential point without wading through column upon column of
matter, she came upon a paragraph that aroused her instant
indignation.

"O listen to this!" she cried. "If they are not at it again! Somewhere
or other General Grets has been making a speech, and here is part of
his noble sentiment: 'I earnestly appeal to parents to prevent their
children marrying any of the English race. They must not let this
colony become a bastard race the same as the Cape Colony. If God had
wanted us to be one race, He would not have made a distinction between
English and Dutch.' Well, I wonder what Dutch Willie will have to say
to that?" and she smiled grimly to herself in anticipation of some
satisfaction to come. "This man Grets is certainly one of his
supporters. If he comes this afternoon I shall have a nice little bomb
ready for him!"

But instead of waiting for his usual late hour, van Hert came early,
and asked to see Miss Meryl Pym alone; and when Diana returned from a
game of golf ready for the fray, she was presented to van Hert as her
future cousin.

For once even she was nonplussed and at a loss for words. "O well, it
would be silly to pret