The head censor being away at the time, she was shown into the presence of a man whose very appearance excited her strongest antipathy. In the first place he had a purely Dutch name, and she knew that he could not occupy a position of so much trust under the British without being a traitor to his own countrymen. Secondly, he seemed to derive much pleasure from her visit and, when she told him who she was, had the audacity to say: "I always enjoy your letters very much, Miss van Warmelo; they quite repay me for my trouble!" When taxed with confiscating and mutilating them, he was all concern and innocence personified. No, indeed, he could never be guilty of such a breach of gallantry and etiquette, the fault must lie elsewhere; he was her friend, and if she would promise to bring all her letters to him personally, he would see that they were passed. "Miserable Renegade!" she thought, with boiling blood. Instantly it flashed through her mind that it would be foolish indeed to make an enemy of this man. Her whole manner changed. "How _very_ kind of you!" she said. "Yes, I shall come myself if you are sure I shall not be giving you too much trouble." "A pleasure, I assure you," bowing with great gallantry, and Hansie went home to tell her mother what had happened. After this interview with the censor, he allowed their letters to pass with unfailing regularity. True to her promise, Hansie took her European mail to him herself every week, and this brought her into contact with him frequently. He was always affable (hatefully affable) and obliging, and the thought of this man made it more and more difficult for her to write, especially those letters destined for the north of Holland. One day she asked her mother to think of some plan by which she could use the censor for her own purposes, without his knowledge, and this set Mrs. van Warmelo's active mind and resourceful brain working, with what result we shall see in our next chapter. CHAPTER VIII OUTWITTING THE CENSOR If the method of writing between the lines in chemicals presented itself to Mrs. van Warmelo's mind for a moment, it was dismissed as too crude and well-known, and, in consequence, too dangerous.