‘Very good; very good indeed; ha, ha!’ he laughed. ‘I should like to see Austin’s face if he should read this; ha, ha! It certainly has the merit of _truth_ which Austin’s poem lacks.’ After some further conversation Steve’s guest left him, giving him a hearty invitation to dine with him the following day. CHAPTER XXVIII LOVE AT LAST We have endeavoured to keep romance and love stories out of this book. We have nearly succeeded, but in order to complete our work, we find that love will intrude itself, if it is only in the last chapter. It is not our fault, we have done our best, but our hero, like all other heroes, has gone and done it. He fell in love. With whom? Why, my dear reader, it cannot be difficult to guess. We have not introduced many ladies into our story. We have only introduced two who would or could be a fit mate to our young friend. The first one was the sister of the poor young fellow who was killed by lightning. But we honestly declared, from the moment of introducing her, that Steve was not going to fall in love with her. So there is only one left. We have not tried to deceive the reader in the least. When we knew that Steve was not going to fall in love, we told the kind and indulgent reader so honestly. We did not deceive the reader, but Steve deceived us. He never told us that he was going to fall in love. When we heard of it, it was an accomplished fact. It happened in this way. Steve got a fortnight’s holiday. What was he to do? He thought for a moment, then jumped up and said aloud, astonishing his friends who were with him at the time. ‘Oh, I have it, a good idea!’ ‘A good idea?’ queried Keith. ‘Where did you get it from?’ ‘Never mind; I am going to act up to it, too. I have a standing invitation from the Mijnheer Meyer to pay him a visit, and I think I cannot do better than give Black Prince a sight of his old home again.’ There now, gentle reader, the cat is out of the bag; you know now with whom Steve fell in love surely. And Steve did act up to his _idea_. He took Black Prince to see his old home again. When he arrived at the door of the well-appointed farmhouse, he did not see anyone about. He dismounted and knocked at the door. The door was opened by--no, not Miss Meyer, but Jankie, the old Hottentot, who was Steve’s first acquaintance on the farm. _He_ did not recognise Steve. ‘Is the baas in?’ ‘No, sir, but the young missus is in. The old baas and the old missus have driven over to Baas Rautenbach’s farm, but will be back this evening. The two young baases are also out, but will be back to-morrow.’ Steve felt a little embarrassment when he heard that only Miss Meyer was in. However, he decided to make the best of it until the old man returned. ‘Tell the young _nooi_ that I would like to see her.’ ‘Yes, sir. Will you come into the sitting-room? I will tell the _nooi_ that you are waiting there.’