Camps and
to write reports for him. Seeing the look of intense dissatisfaction
on her face, he asked whether she did not think that Commandant
----would do it well.

"No, indeed," she replied. "I think I would do it a great deal better.
Will you let _me_ go round to all the Camps also, to write reports for
you?"

She spoke in jest, but to her surprise the Governor immediately
entered into the idea, saying that it would be a great help to him to
know that he could rely on getting truthful reports.

"You must come and see me later," he continued. "I advise you to take
a few weeks' rest before you begin this tour. Is there anything else I
can do for you now, or, I should say, for your people, for I have done
nothing for you."

"Not just now, thank you, General; but I will let you know when I am
able to go round to the Camps, and when I take up my work again at
Irene."

Suddenly she remembered the unposted letter in her handbag.

"But there _is_ something else----" She hesitated.

"I have a private letter for Holland here. It contains no word about
the war, but I cannot let it pass through the hands of the censor. May
I ask you to send it for me? I can assure you----"

"With pleasure," he broke in. "I will see that it is dispatched
safely."

"Thank you very much. Shall I tell you what it is about?"

"Oh no; I trust you."

He handed a piece of sealing-wax to her.

"What is this for?" she asked.

"To seal the letter," he replied; but she quickly answered, with a
smile:

"Oh no; _I trust you_."

He gave her a long official-looking envelope, into which she placed
her letter, and, when she had readdressed it, he closed it with the
stamp of the Military Governor's office.

Now, this little scene could not have taken place a few months, or
even a few weeks, later, but at the time Hansie had no secrets to
conceal from the Governor, and she had no reason to feel the slightest
qualm in asking him to do her this personal favour.

But the time was soon to come, however, when she remembered the
incident of the uncensored letter with no small degree of
discomfort--when she found herself in the midst of conspiracies
against the enemy, conspiracies of a far more serious nature than the
harmless "smuggling" hitherto carried on by her and her mother.

"He would never believe that that letter contained no war news, if he
were to find out what we are doing now," she thought then. "This kind
of thing must cease--no mor