t sort of faith,' he insists.
NOON.--The situation is very strained. I can see that my husband is
trying to prepare me for his possible arrest. 'It will merely be a
matter of form.' Ah me! I can read in his grave face another truth.
May God in His mercy grant us a happy issue out of all our
afflictions.
At a quarter to ten on the night of January 9, my husband, with two
dozen others of the Reform Committee, was arrested and thrown into
jail on the charge of rebellion and high treason. They had heard that
this was probable several hours earlier in the day.
The four leaders were secretly offered a safe conduct over the border,
but refused to forsake their comrades and the Cause. Leaving word
where he was to be found, and with the further stipulation that no
handcuffs were to be used in his arrest, or 'he would blow the brains
out of the first man who approached him,' my husband hastened to
break the news gently to us. I packed a tiny handbag with necessaries
and filled his pockets with cakes of chocolate; chocolate was
nourishing, and would sustain a hungry man hours, even days. We sat
down hand in hand to wait for the officer, Betty in delicacy having
left us alone together.
The Australians were giving a banquet below stairs, and as we clung to
each other we could hear their shouts of boisterous mirth and
hand-clapping. We started up at a tap on the door. A friend to tell us
the officer was waiting at the street entrance. I helped my husband
into his coat and we kissed each other good-bye. He was filled with
solicitude for me. My thoughts were of the two thousand excited Boers
laagered between Johannesburg and Pretoria, but recollection of my
unborn child steadied me and gave me self-command.
Kind Mrs. Heath came to me, and, putting her arms about my shoulders,
led me gently back into the bedroom, 'Mrs. Heath, will you please
tell my sister-in-law that I am alone?' and Betty knew what had
happened and came to me at once. Some time later Mr. John Stroyan
brought a note from my husband:--
Johannesburg Jail--2 A.M.
'We are well--a couple of dozen--waiting for the train to
Pretoria. Don't worry.
'Yours, J.H.H.'
Then nature came to my relief. My overtaxed nerves refused to bear any
more--they were paralysed. I threw myself across the foot of my little
boy's bed, and lay like a dead woman until the morning broke....
Many days afterward I heard further details of the arrest. Some of th
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