Her face flushed painfully and anxiously. Truth to tell, he did not look over-pleased--he stood looking pitifully first at the bundle, then at the slight figure that leaned so lovingly, and yet so timidly, against him, and the shadow of an almost seriousness came over the careless blue eyes. He put his hand on the long fair hair, and said gently: ‘All that my pretty does is good, and shall she not be rewarded?’ He raised her chin, and kissed her eyes and lips. ‘Yet I am sorry too, for I have been thinking, and it cannot be to-night--I can’t take you away to-night, child.’ Her head drooped and she shivered. ‘Not to-night--not to-night? But my Lord _promised_ me.’ ‘Yes, child, I know, but there are many things I didn’t think of that I _must_ do before we go away. I must go back to Cape Town and put things straight. Cheer up, sweetheart, ’tis only for a fortnight, or three weeks at most, and then I will come and take you away for good and all.’ ‘I’m afraid--so afraid. If my Lord leaves me, he may forget, he will see other women, and I am so poor and little--let me come now, my King, only to be near thee--I won’t ask more, just to be near thee--_let_ me come.’ ‘Dear child, be reasonable--think a minute, think of the waggon. I can’t leave that, and we should be followed and overtaken at once, and there’d be the devil to pay. Then think of my men--I don’t want my little flower amongst rough swine like the Vanhievers.’ ‘Vanhiever!’ The girl shrank out of his arms, and stood staring wildly at him. ‘What Vanhiever? not Pietris--not Pietris?’ ‘Ay, Pietris and Dan--what ails you, child?’ ‘My God! O my God!’ She sprang back to him, and threw her arms round his neck, and drew his head down to hers with a gesture of protection. ‘He doesn’t know, does he? Tell me, he doesn’t know?’ ‘What _is_ the matter, you funny child? You’re shaking all over! _Who_ doesn’t know, _what_?’ ‘He, Pietris. Don’t you know? Didn’t you hear? He was my lover. I was betrothed to him,--_him_ that I hated, and he swore to kill any one that came between. Did not my Lord know?’ Her voice fell again, and she spoke in a terrified whisper. He flung his head back. ‘Not I,’ he said, with a laugh. ‘The hog, to raise his eyes to you! Well, dear, it’s all right, he knows nothing;’--then, as a thought struck him, he went on with a sort of relief, ‘but don’t you see, that settles it, it can’t be while he’s with me--won’t do at all.’ ‘No, no, and O, my Love, be careful--don’t come here again. You don’t know him; he is a devil, and the child of devils.’ She clung to him despairingly. ‘All right, my darling, trust me. I’ll make tracks for Cape Town to-morrow, and you must promise me to be a good child and keep a brave heart, and then--think, only two weeks--three at the longest--there, there.’ She lay resting in his arms, her face buried against his shoulder, stifling the sobs that _would_ come; then, raising her head, she said quickly and passionately: