ffee and enjoying the good things with which he
had been provided, while, inside, his prisoner, speechless with
emotion, knelt beside the mother's bed, showering kisses on the tiny
feet of his infant daughter.

When the first greetings were over Mr. Botha said:

"Wife, what became of that old hymn-book which was standing on the
shelf in the dining-room?"

"I don't know," she answered; "I suppose it was taken away by Elliot
with all the other books and papers."

"Elliot!" he muttered between his teeth.

"Elliot, betrayer of friends, and Judas-Boer!"

This man had been intimately known to them all, had, in fact, for many
months lived with his wife and family, as guest and friend, under the
hospitable roof of Mr. and Mrs. Hattingh, at whose hands they received
innumerable acts of love and kindness.

Elliot was the man by whom the members of the Secret Committee were
arrested that Sunday night.

Verily it can be said of him--

"For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne
it; neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against
me; then I would have hid myself from him. But it was thou, a man my
equal, my guide, and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together,
and walked unto the house of God in company."

The occasion of Willie Botha's visit having been made to serve at the
same time as a christening, there were quiet, sacred rejoicings when
the minister, who had in the meantime arrived, performed the ceremony.

As soon as the service was over Mr. Botha walked rapidly to the
dining-room and glanced over the empty book-shelves. Nothing there!

He stood on tiptoe for a moment, surveying the topmost shelf, and was
about to turn away disappointed, when his eye fell on the tattered
psalm-book, lying unnoticed in a corner of the shelf.

He could hardly believe his eyes! He pounced on the book, turning over
the pages in the greatest agitation and suspense.

The fateful slip of paper fell into his hands!

Triumphantly he marched back to his wife's bedroom and held the magic
paper before her astonished eyes, telling her of the sleepless nights
and days of suspense he had endured through it.

With unspeakable thankfulness in their hearts, they then and there
reduced the fragment of paper to ashes, thanking God for His wonderful
deliverance.

But the hour of parting was now at hand--and over this, good reader,
we must draw the veil.

* * * *