He engaged a room at the hotel and prepared to wait. Plainly, Tottie had not found Van Bleit come to heel as readily as she had supposed. He found the waiting extraordinarily dull. There was nothing for it but to tramp over the veld between meals. That, the eating of the meals, and sleeping, were the sole means of enjoyment provided by the neighbourhood, so far as he could judge. The sleeping, in Lawless' opinion, was the most amusing of these recreations. During meals he was bored almost beyond endurance by the schoolmaster for the district, who had his lodging there; and the tramping, with no object beyond the exercise, proved a poor pastime. "It is good to meet a man of education in a place like this," the schoolmaster observed on the first day. "Are you making any length of stay, may I inquire?" "God forbid!" Lawless ejaculated. The other smiled a trifle deprecatingly. "We have not much to offer--no," he admitted thoughtfully. "But if you are here for a few days I can show you some good walks, and introduce you to one or two nice families--quite nice, where you will be well received." "Your quite nice families may not be so glad of my acquaintance as you imagine," Lawless answered. "With my recommendation that will be all right," the other said. "What the devil do you know about me," Lawless demanded, "that you offer me a passport to the houses of your friends? My good sir, you should be more discreet in the matter of your introductions." The schoolmaster, who had taken a liking to the new-comer, looked hurt. "I don't know anything about you," he replied. "But during a fairly long and varied life I have learnt to trust my judgment of men." Lawless suddenly smiled. "And you judge a man as you find him," he said, "without looking beneath the surface? You countenance him, even to introducing him to your friends... _quam diu se bene gesserit_." "What more is necessary?" inquired the schoolmaster promptly. "True!" acquiesced Lawless. "If a man have seven devils what need their possession matter to anyone save himself so long as he keep them out of sight?" On the second day after his arrival the letter of instructions reached him. It bore the Wellington postmark. Tottie was gradually working her way down the line. It was a scrawling, lengthy epistle, containing many interlineations and corrections and succinct marginal notes. Lawless carried it to the garden, and sat on a bench under a huge eucalyptus tree while he deciphered the contents. Properly adjusted, and omitting the evil spelling, it read: ------------------------------------------------------------------------