No letter had come from Wilfred about his brother's disappearance; neither did he mention it in the columns of the paper of which he was correspondent. The first news which Mrs. Burton received, other than from the War Office, was a letter which arrived one morning with the Transvaal postmark. In fear and trembling she opened it, thinking it contained an announcement from some kind soul in Pretoria that Harold was dead. To her astonishment and horror it proved to be from Van Zwieten, and was addressed to her, "care of" Mrs. St. Leger. She opened it, and was found later on by the parlor-maid in a dead faint. The first thing she did on regaining consciousness was to read it again. As she got to the end, she heard her father's step. In a tremor of excitement she ran to him. "Oh, father, look at this it is from Van Zwieten--written from Pretoria." Mr. Scarse was astonished. The Dutchman was the last person in the world from whom he expected to hear. But the cool insolence of the man seemed to be beyond all bounds. Putting on his glasses he read the letter. Brenda sat beside him, trying to control her excitement. And this was what he read: "DEAR MRS. BURTON,--Your husband has been taken prisoner by our burghers, and is now in Pretoria, and more or less in my charge. I write to you to say that unless you come out to me here, at once, I will have your husband shot as a spy. There is plenty of evidence to allow of this being done. I hope, therefore, that you will save his life by obeying my orders. If not, you may expect to hear of his death. You know I never speak vainly.--Yours with all love, "WALDO VAN ZWIETEN." "Father!" cried Brenda, when he had finished reading this cold-blooded letter, "what is to be done? My poor boy!" "It is a trick to get you out there and into his power," said Mr. Scarse, in a tone of decision. "I don't believe he can do it--no, not for one moment." "But I am quite sure he can. You know how vindictive he is. Oh, how can we save Harold?" "By seeing the authorities. I will get a request sent out to Kruger; he is a God-fearing man and would not permit this atrocity." "It will do no good," the girl said, shaking her head sadly. "No, father, I dare say if such a request were cabled to the President he would do his best; but Van Zwieten would try and kill Harold in the meantime, and if he succeeded--as he would succeed--he would say it was an accident." "I believe he is capable of anything. But what else is to be done? You cannot obey this insolent demand!" "I must--to save Harold!" "Go out to Pretoria?--impossible!"