red to him that the medicine that was doing Jess so much good might
be happiness. But so it was. After her first struggles came a lull, and
then an idea. Why should she not enjoy his society while she could? He
had been thrown into her way through no wish of hers. She had no desire
to wean him from Bessie; or, if she had the desire, it was one which she
was far too honourable a woman to entertain. He was perfectly innocent
of the whole story; to him she was the young lady who happened to be the
sister of the woman he was going to marry, that was all. Why should she
not pluck her innocent roses whilst she might? Jess forgot that the rose
is a flower with a dangerous perfume, and one that is apt to confuse the
senses and turn the head. So she gave herself full swing, and for some
weeks went nearer to knowing what happiness really meant than she
ever had before. What a wonderful thing is the love of a woman in its
simplicity and strength, and how it gilds all the poor and common things
of life and even finds a joy in service! The prouder the woman the more
delight does she extract from her self-abasement before her idol. Only
not many women can love like Jess, and when they do almost invariably
they make some fatal mistake, whereby the wealth of their affection
is wasted, or, worse still, becomes a source of misery or shame to
themselves and others.

It was after they had been incarcerated in Pretoria for a month that
a bright idea occurred to John. About a quarter of a mile from the
outskirts of the camp stood a little house known, probably on account of
its diminutive size, as "The Palatial." This cottage, like almost every
other house in Pretoria, had been abandoned to its fate, its owner, as
it happened, being away from the town. One day, in the course of a walk,
John and Jess crossed the little bridge that spanned the _sluit_ and
went in to inspect the place. Passing down a path lined on either side
with young blue gums, they reached the little tin-roofed cottage. It
consisted of two rooms--a bedroom and a good-sized sitting-room, in
which still stood a table and a few chairs, with a stable and a kitchen
at the back. They went in, sat down by the open door and looked out. The
garden of the cottage sloped down towards a valley, on the farther side
of which rose a wooded hill. To the right, too, was a hill clothed in
deep green bush. The grounds themselves were planted with vines,
just now loaded with bunches of ripening