The Petticoat Commando Part 18

There was an atmosphere of serenity in the courtly, kindly presence of the great doctor.

"Have you any objection to being cross-questioned?" he asked, producing a notebook and pencil.

"Not at all," she said.

"General Maxwell told me to make a point of visiting your ward. I am sorry you will not be there. Would it not be possible for you to go over to Irene with me to-morrow? I am leaving by the early train."

Hansie hesitated.

"I have no permit, and it is too late now."

"Oh, that is easily remedied."

A messenger was at once dispatched to General Maxwell's house, almost next door, and he soon returned with the necessary permits and a cordial note from the Governor, wishing them "good luck."

That was an eventful day at Irene!

The anxious face of the "new nurse" broke into a beaming smile when she saw Hansie on the scenes once more, the people crowding round her with their questions. Why did she come back? Was she going to stay?

Didn't she go to Pretoria yesterday? Who was that with her? etc.

Mothers pulled her aside and pointed in wordless grief to their tents, to what lay there in still repose since last night. Children clung to her skirts--"We thought you had gone for good."

"The people love you," the great doctor said.

"But not as much as I love them," the answer quickly came.

It was arranged that Dr. Franks should go through the hospital, the dispensary, and the store-rooms in the morning, with the matron and the doctors of the Camp, and that after lunch he should inspect some of the tents in Hansie's ward.

This arrangement suited her to perfection, for she wished, after she had greeted her people in the Camp, to write an important letter, destined for the north of Holland, for which she had had neither time nor opportunity for many weeks.

The doctor's "hour or two in the Camp" lengthened to three, very nearly four, and during the greater part of this time Hansie, sitting in the tent which had been hers, wrote, without lifting her head.

"How shall I get this away? The censor must not set eyes on _this_,"

she mused as she folded the closely written sheets.

She put the envelope into her handbag, and just then "the girls"

trooped in from the Camp. Surprised greetings were exchanged and explanations made as they all went into the big marquee where the midday meal was being served.

The doctor was very hot and tired after his long visit of inspection, but highly satisfied with the number of notes he had made, and the meal pa.s.sed off in animated conversation. When it was over, Dr. Franks and Hansie went through the long rows of tents in her ward--her "prize" tents she called them--and the doctor seemed much struck by the extreme poverty and misery of the inmates. In one tent two little boys were dying, and the distracted mother, when she heard the magic word "doctor," implored him to save them. She was a widow and these children were all she had. He knelt beside them and examined them with his strong and gentle hands, shaking his head. There was no hope.

"Your ward is in a shocking state. But things were not as bad in the dispensary and store-rooms as you made out last night," he said to her on their way to the station.

There was a touch of reproof in the kind voice.

"You saw the small supply which is always kept for inspection, doctor," she answered. "It is always there and is not touched when the stores run out."

His face wore a troubled look, but he said no more.

When they parted at the station he said he would report on his visit, to the Governor, and Hansie laughingly replied that she would report too.

"For you are a Briton and I am a Boer. General Maxwell must have _two_ reports."

She found the Governor next day in the friendliest of moods and evidently satisfied when she thanked him for the improvements in her ward.

He told her that the Commandant, who had been at Irene when first she came there, was going round the country to inspect all the 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 pa.s.s through the hands of the censor. May I ask you to send it for me? I can a.s.sure 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 more favours from the enemy, and, if I can help it, no more interviews with the Governor. But there is this tour of inspection--no getting out of that, and I shall have to see a great deal of him. Well, as far as the Camps are concerned, I can always 'play the game' to him. That is a thing apart."

A few days after this interview with the Governor, Mr. Cinatti called at Harmony with the interesting news that General Maxwell had invited the entire Diplomatic Corps to spend a day with him at Irene.

"We are going to-morrow [July 13th]," he said. "Now, why are you not there?" looking dolefully at Hansie.