hich he took off his watch, which
chain I still have. Then he rode away, smiling after his fashion; and
as I watched him go I was glad to think that he was no knave but only an
easy tool in the hands of others. We never met again, but I believe that
death finished his story many years ago; indeed, all those of whom I
tell are dead; only Jan and I survive, and our course is well-nigh run.

When Suzanne awoke at length, having heard from a Kaffir girl that the
strangers had ordered their horses, but not that the young lord had
ridden forward, she slipped from the house silently, fearing lest I
should stay her, and hid herself in a little patch of bush at the corner
of the big mealie field by which she knew the Englishmen must pass on
their return journey. Presently she heard them coming, and when she
saw that the young lord was not with them, she went to the lawyer, who
pulled up his horse and waited for her, the rest of the party riding on,
and asked where his master was, saying that she wished to talk with him.
And here I must say, if I have not said it before, that Suzanne could
speak English, though not well. The Hollander tutor had instructed her
in that tongue, in which Ralph also would converse with her at times
when he did not wish others to understand what they were saying, for he
never forgot his mother language, though he mixed many Dutch words with
it.

"He has ridden forward an hour or more ago. Can I take any message to
him for you?" said the lawyer. "Or if you wish to talk of business, to
speak to me is to speak to him."

"That may be so," answered Suzanne, "still I like to draw my water at
the fountain itself. Yet, as he has gone, I beg you to listen to me, for
when you have heard what I have to say I think that you will bring him
back. You came here about Ralph Kenzie, did you not, and my mother told
you that he is not the man whom you seek, did she not?"

The lawyer nodded.

"Well, I tell you that all this tale is false, for he is the very man,"
and she poured out the true story of Ralph and of the plot that had been
made to deceive them about him.

Now, as I have said, Suzanne's English was none of the best and it is
possible that the lawyer did not understand. For my part, however, I
think that he understood well enough, for she told me afterwards that is
face grew grey and anxious as he listened, and that at length he said:

"All this you tell me is very strange and weighty, so much so that I