he was
really such an enemy of Rhodes as represented. I was surprised by the
moderate tone in which he replied to my, after all, impertinent question.
The remarks which we then exchanged filled me with the greatest admiration
for the man who so nobly, and so worthily, upheld British prestige in
South Africa under the most trying circumstances. Milner was an entirely
honest man--the rarest thing in the whole of Cape Town at that anxious
period--and after one had had the advantage of discussing with him the
political situation, one could only be filled with profound respect for
him and for his opinions, actions and conduct. Far from working against
Rhodes, as Sir Alfred had been represented to me as doing, I convinced
myself that he was keenly anxious to be on good and, what is more
important, on sincere terms with him. Sir Alfred had not the slightest
feeling of animosity against the Dutch. On the contrary, he would have
liked them to become persuaded of his desire to protect them against
possible aggression by the Jingoes, whose offensive conduct none more than
himself assessed at its true value.

But what was the real situation? He found his every action misconstrued;
whatever he did was interpreted in a wrong sense, and those who should
have shared his aims were plotting against him. The position was truly
tragic from whatever side it was viewed, and a weaker or less honest man
would assuredly have given up the struggle.

A few days after my conversation with Sir Alfred Milner, which took place
during the course of a dinner at Government House, I took opportunity to
mention it to Rhodes. I tried to clear his mind of the suspicions that I
knew he entertained in regard to the High Commissioner. Cecil Rhodes
listened to me with attention, then asked me in that sarcastic tone of
his, which was so intensely disagreeable and offensive, whether I was in
love with Sir Alfred, as I had so suddenly become his champion. Then he
ended, "You are trying to make me believe the impossible." I did not allow
him, however, to ruffle me, as evidently was his desire, but replied that
when one came to know better those whom one had only met occasionally,
without ever having talked with them seriously, it was natural to amend
one's opinion accordingly. I told him, too, that my earlier
misapprehension had been intensified by a certain lady who posed as
Rhodes' greatest friend, and who had been loud in her denunciations of the
High Commissi