An I.D.B. in South Africa Part 12

ONE OF EVE'S DAUGHTERS.

At last, in the dead of night, she reached the house of an Afrikander whom she had once befriended, and on whom she could rely. Him she awakened by blowing a bugle which had lain at her feet.--He came out to her, and listened to the strange tale which she hastily repeated, with the usual unmoved countenance of the Afrikander. He was ready enough to help her to dispose of her terror-stricken prisoner. These Cape people have a way of their own of disposing of anything disagreeable, which strikes the stranger as peculiar, but effective.

Obeying her orders, he took him to a lonely hut, and chained him fast.

It was the Fingo's fate to remain there until danger to Donald was past.

When she saw that the captive was where he could do her husband no harm, she handed a purse to the Afrikander and turned her horses' heads homeward, with a sense of relief.

Her fury had abated, but not her courage. Alone, and fearless, she returned over the veldt, until, exhausted, she arrived on the outskirts of the town, just as the day was dawning, and descended from her cart, leaving it in the hands of her tireless waiting servant. She then turned homeward, now on foot. The fatigue of the watch had relaxed the vigilance of the guard, and they expected nothing from beyond the premises. So by care she was able to regain the shadow of the house and to make safe entrance.

Closing the door, the graceful Malay became transformed into a tearful, trembling, exhausted woman. She doffed her male attire, donned a soft, silken, clinging robe, and sunk on a couch with a feeling of utter weakness. Fate, she thought, had overtaken her, and she felt herself hopelessly entangled in the intricacies of Donald's possible disaster.

But she had shown her devotion as a wife, in her wild and dangerous midnight ride. Why had she ever met Donald? Why had she not been left to live her uneventful life? "Oh," she sighed, "to hide in the depths of some great forest and there lie down in peace to die." Then her thoughts reverted to Schwatka, who was seldom out of her mind. Donald with his hidden secret had estranged her. When we are no longer worthy of confidence, we lose confidence in others.

A remnant of the old self that had been Donald's--her pride in his good name was still left. In secreting the diamond, she sought to shield her husband's name from disgrace. Beyond this pride, the rest was indifference, and nothing henceforth could kindle any warmer flame, while the new fires of another love burned at such a white heat, that they threatened to consume the temple in which their altars stood.

The mental strain of the last twenty-four hours had completely prostrated her. Soon all became a blank, and she lay for hours unconscious; when she awoke her brain slowly resumed its action. She pa.s.sed her hand wearily over her head. Where was she? What was it?

Ah, yes. She remembered, and rang for Bela. He did not answer the call. Calling a second time, and receiving no response, she sat up, lost in thought.

What was the immediate work before her? To find Bela must be her first act, for he had the diamond! She ran out of the room into the next and searched everywhere, thinking he must be in hiding. Calling again, and receiving no answer, she realised that there was not a servant on the place.

Action was now a luxury. Real danger was in the air. If nothing could be proved against her husband, when would he return?

With all these thoughts surging through her brain, it seemed as if her head would burst. As she tottered back toward the bedroom, the door opened, and she swooned in Donald's arms.

Donald saw that she had been pa.s.sing through some terrible agony. He groaned and covered her face with kisses, as he laid her gently on the couch and applied restoratives. When she regained consciousness, her eyes fell on Donald. She turned her head away from him with a weary motion. Here were two people chained to each other by the bond of marriage, but whose ways lay far apart. Love held Donald captive, while fate bound Dainty to Donald.

Suddenly she rose from her couch, and began to tell him of her night ride. As she continued, he looked at her in amazement. Her self sufficiency, her fearlessness, under the utterly listless manner in which she told it all, made her seem like a new being to him.

Woman needs but to taste the fruit of the tree of knowledge, to become an epicure. Dainty had been wandering in the fields of Paradise with an Adam who was not Donald, and Donald would no more be her companion, though he might stay by her side.

"If Bela does not return to-day, we must leave the country, unless you are willing to work in convict dress."

He sank lower in his chair, before replying in a scarce audible voice:

"Where shall we go?"

She looked at him in amazement as she said:

"To England, of course. Where else should you go?" He kept his hand over his eyes as he replied:

"I had thought we might wish to go to Australia."

"Australia! Why there, instead of England? Do you not care to see your native land?"

"Oh, yes," said Donald, hurriedly, "only I did not know as you--you cared to go to England in winter."

This seemed to satisfy Dainty, who wearily closed her eyes and said:

"It matters little to me whether it is summer or winter, so long as I get away from here." She said no more, but lay unmoved with eyes closed. Donald moodily watched her. Presently he saw that she slept the sleep of exhaustion.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

ON THE HEIGHTS.

Bloemfontein, the beautiful. Have you seen Bloemfontein? No? Well you must do so before you leave Africa. In this lovely place, its streets shaded by trees, whose luxurious foliage is kept in perennial verdure by purling streams, had Kate Darcy chosen a resting-place. What a change from the dirty, dusty, noisy Fields, with streets filled with hungry worshippers of Mammon, to this crystallised mirage, for one would scarcely realise that so beautiful a garden could rise out of a desert, except in imagination.

Here in the midst of a garden of roses, encircled by a hedge of cactus, stood the house in which Kate Darcy had chosen to make her home for the nonce. Its owner, a wealthy Hollander, who had come out as a missionary, and availed himself of the opportunities of trade with great success, was now visiting Europe with his family. The house was luxuriously furnished, and a Scotchwoman, as housekeeper, watched over all the barbaric creatures--servants on the place.

One morning, a few weeks after her arrival, Kate was listlessly swinging in a hammock shaded by a fig-tree, when Margaret appeared, saying:

"A gentleman to see you, Miss Darcy."

"Who is it, Margaret?"

"Here is his card."

As Kate read the name of C.A. Fox--Kimberley, she said:

"Show him the way to the garden, Margaret. I will receive him here."

When the doctor reached the veranda that overlooked this charming spot, he stood lost in admiration. Before him was the woman he had dreamed of, thought of, loved--since the hour he first met her. Never before had he seen so beautiful, so idyllic a picture. She looked sweet and restful under the trees, with the sunlight striking the trembling leaves which threw playful shadows over her face.

At his approach, she rose from her hammock to greet him. Taking both her hands in his, and looking into her eyes, as if he would read her inmost thoughts, he said: "I hope that you are glad to see me?"

"Indeed I am," said Kate, heartily. "I was beginning to feel a little secret restlessness, and a desire for the society of a congenial soul.

What good angel has brought you to Bloemfontein? Ah, I know," she continued, for the doctor seemed for once in his life at a loss for words; "the angel of mercy. Some poor stricken sufferer has heard of your skill and sent for you. Is it a case for the surgeon, or physician?"

"I have not fully diagnosed the case."

"It is not a hopeless one, I trust?" said Kate.

"I fear it is."

"Let us hope that with your skill, aided by kind Providence, all will be well."

"I will say Amen, to that, but, as it is a case for the metaphysician, I fear I shall lose the patient."

"Ah, Doctor! and you whose happy cures are so frequently the result of mental action. By the way, is the patient one of your own s.e.x?"

"Yes; and therein lies the danger."

With one accord they began to walk slowly over the grounds. As they walked, they talked, and in the midst of their talk, they would cease to walk; standing still to enjoy some thought of the moment, and then begin to pace over the green sward.

"I thought, Miss Darcy, that I would leave the Fields during the hot Christmas season, and visit you."

"You have done quite right. We will try to entertain you as best we know how. Instead of the usual Christmas turkey with its accompanying cranberry sauce, we will serve up to you some of those delightful dishes our Coolie cook knows so well how to prepare, with a feast of rare fruit, such as I think you have never tasted."

"I see you think of the inner man?"

"Why, certainly! You, like the rest of your brothers, love to be well fed. You see that I wish you to be amiable while you are here.