purpose. Mr. Manion, the Consular Agent, and Mr. K.B. Brown, an
American just arrived in Cape Town from the Rand, took me aside and
laid the case in all its bare brutality before me. _To allow my
husband to return to Pretoria was for him to meet certain death_. If
he were not lynched by the excited Boers, he was sure to get a death
sentence. Mr. Brown showed feeling as he plead with me to use a wife's
influence to save her husband's life. My head was swimming. I could
only repeat in a dull, dogged way: 'He says his honour takes him
back. He is the father of my sons, and I'd rather see him dead than
dishonoured.'

Somehow I got to my room, and the page-boy stumbled over me at the
door some time afterward, and ran for Mrs. Cavanagh. When I felt a
little recovered, I put on my hat, and, not waiting for my husband's
return from an appointment with Dr. Thomas, I drove to the office of
Mr. Rose Innes. He was not in, and his clerk declared he did not know
when he would be in. 'Very well, then; I'll wait until he does come
in.'

I was given a comfortable chair, and a dictionary was dusted and
placed under my feet. Mr. Rose Innes at length appeared. He was
greatly astonished to find me waiting for him. I began abruptly: 'Dear
Mr. Innes, I am in need of a friend; my distress is so great that I
can no longer distinguish right from wrong.' I told him everything;
showed him the letters which I had received, and, facing him, asked,
'What is my duty? I can appeal to my husband--for my sake, to save
the life of our child--and perhaps dissuade him! _My God, it is a
temptation!_'

Mr. Rose Innes sat deep in thought.