e the
contents of the letter were not considered sufficiently incriminating.

Mr. Stead received the documents hidden in the cigarette-case in due
time and made full use of their contents in his monthly magazine, _The
Review of Reviews_.

Although, surprising to relate, no steps were taken against the
conspirators at Harmony, they soon noticed an extraordinary increase
in the vigilance of the censor, so much so, that the most harmless
communications failed to reach their destination, and when by chance
anything was allowed to pass through it was mutilated beyond
recognition, whole sentences being smirched with printer's ink or
pages cut away by the ruthless hand of the censor.

It may seem a small thing now, but this state of affairs, when letters
and papers were the only consolation one had, became a source of such
keen annoyance and distress that Hansie decided to approach the censor
and ask him the reason for such petty persecutions.

The head censor being away at the time, she was shown into the
presence of a man whose very appearance excited her strongest
antipathy. In the first place he had a purely Dutch name, and she knew
that he could not occupy a position of so much trust under the British
without being a traitor to his own countrymen.

Secondly, he seemed to derive much pleasure from her visit and, when
she told him who she was, had the audacity to say:

"I always enjoy your letters very much, Miss van Warmelo; they quite
repay me for my trouble!"

When taxed with confiscating and mutilating them, he was all concern
and innocence personified.

No, indeed, he could never be guilty of such a breach of gallantry and
etiquette, the fault must lie elsewhere; he was her friend, and if she
would promise to bring all her letters to him personally, he would see
that they were passed.

"Miserable Renegade!" she thought, with boiling blood.

Instantly it flashed through her mind that it would be foolish indeed
to make an enemy of this man. Her whole manner changed.

"How _very_ kind of you!" she said. "Yes, I shall come myself if you
are sure I shall not be giving you too much trouble."

"A pleasure, I assure you," bowing with great gallantry, and Hansie
went home to tell her mother what had happened.

After this interview with the censor, he allowed their letters to pass
with unfailing regularity.

True to her promise, Hansie took her European mail to him herself
every week, and this brought her into