the
same, even if you had told me that very evening that you were promised
to another. Yet all the time we have been together--these weeks that
have gone so quickly--I knew, Hendrik, that indeed our ways lay
differently; that your world was a different world to mine; that I was
to you nothing but a child--a playmate. Yet your friendship even has
been so sweet to me that never, never shall I forget these nine weeks
with you by the Lake River." Once more the girl dried her tears. Her
face was clearer now. "But there," she went on, "that is enough about
myself. Presently, when I can bear it, you must tell me all about your
wife that is to be, and your future. We have lived together so much in
the happy present that I never cared to speak or even to think about
your leaving us." There were voices heard approaching the wagons.
Jacoba kissed passionately Meredith's hand, which she still held within
hers, laid it gently by his side, and went to her _kartel_ at the end of
the big tent-wagon.

And so the Boer maiden's dream was ended. Meredith quitted the camp and
trekked for the Cape a little later, after a friendly and even
affectionate farewell with the Steyn family. A sad heart was Jacoba's
as the captain's wagon moved away south-eastward, and the last crack of
the great whip sounded through the hot morning air. Sadder yet was it
when the captain, after kissing Vrouw Steyn and herself, climbed into
his saddle and rode away. There were tears even in Meredith's eyes as
he departed.

And so Jacoba, with the tenacity of her race, has cherished that first
love of hers, and steadily refused all others in its place. No Dutchman
can ever supplant that dear image which, long years ago, she set up
within her maiden heart. The bright girl of seventeen has changed to
the middle-aged woman of forty-seven, yet that early love and its
memories have remained ever constant within her, and will go with her to
her grave.

The smart English captain of 1859 is now a grey but still handsome
veteran with a grown-up family of his own. You may usually see him
sitting comfortably in an easy chair at the Naval and Military Club
towards afternoon.

Major-General Meredith has an excellent memory for the details of his
old stirring hunter's life. I sometimes wonder if he recalls also that
other brief episode on the far-off Lake River. I am inclined to think
he does. But he can little imagine that for his sake Jacoba Steyn
remains