ers at
Harmony observed that the censorship on _their_ post had been
withdrawn altogether.

They knew only too well what this meant! And their hearts sank when
they thought of the White Envelope!

It meant, good reader, that there was a most disquieting increase in
the vigilance of the censor; it meant that their letters were opened
_by steam_, to throw them off their guard, and to encourage them to
write with greater frankness to their absent friends.

Mother and daughter felt the hair rising on their heads when they
thought of one of their precious White Envelopes being subjected to a
treatment of _steam_ by the censor, and of his exultation on beholding
the result.

As the days went by, their dread of him and his evil machinations
increased, for hardly a letter reached them that did not betray traces
of his handiwork--or unhandiwork, for he was not always judicious in
the quantity of glue used by him in reclosing the envelopes. He should
have been a little more economical in the use of Government property
if he really wished to hoodwink his enemies, and he would have saved
Mrs. van Warmelo the trouble of damping the envelopes afterwards where
they stuck, on the inside, to the letters.

While the steaming process was being carried on at the General Post
Office, no White Envelopes were taken to the censor, but they were
posted at Johannesburg by friends, and in this way the distant
correspondents were warned of danger, until it became evident that the
steam-censorship had been withdrawn and the old reassuring order of
things been established once more.

A week or two later another White Envelope from Holland reached
Harmony in safety, by which it was known that the secret was still
undiscovered, but the fate of the missing envelope remained a mystery
to the end, and was a constant reminder and warning to the
conspirators to be careful in the use of their priceless secret.

I am sure the Post Office officials had plenty to do during the war,
but there is no doubt that their labours were considerably lightened
by the "smugglers" who chose to dispense with the services of the
censors entirely. And then we must not forget the activities of the
spies and of their fellow-workers in town.

Quite a large private postal service was carried on by them, as we all
know, and every week, before the entry into Pretoria became so
difficult and dangerous, hundreds of letters were carried backwards
and forwards, to and from t