What did not cease, however, was the lad's love for Suzanne, or her love
for him, which, if possible, was yet deeper. Brother may love sister,
but that affection, however true, yet lacks something, since nature
teaches that it can never be complete. But from the beginning--yes, even
while they were children--these twain were brother and sister, friend
and friend, lover and lover; and so they remained till life left them,
and so they will remain for aye in whatever life they live. Their
thought was one thought, their heart was one heart; in them was neither
variableness nor shadow of turning; they were each of each, to each and
for each, as one soul in their separate spirits, as one flesh in their
separate bodies. I who write this am a very old woman, and though in
many things I am most ignorant, I have seen much of the world and of
the men who live in it, yet I say that never have I known any marvel to
compare with the marvel and the beauty of the love between Ralph Kenzie,
the castaway, and my sweet daughter, Suzanne. It was of heaven, not of
earth; or, rather, like everything that is perfect, it partook both of
earth and heaven. Yes, yes, it wandered up the mountain paths of earth
to the pure heights of heaven, where now it dwells for ever.

The boy Ralph grew up fair and brave and strong, with keen grey eyes and
a steady mouth, nor did I know any lad of his years who could equal him
in strength and swiftness of foot; for, though in youth he was not over
tall, he was broad in the breast and had muscles that never seemed to
tire. Now, we Boers think little of book learning, holding, as we do,
that if a man can read the Holy Word it is enough. Still Jan and I
thought as Ralph was not of our blood, though otherwise in all ways a
son to us, that it was our duty to educate him as much in the fashion of
his own people as our circumstances would allow. Therefore, after he had
been with us some two years, when one day the Hollander tutor man, with
the blue spectacles, of whom I have spoken, rode up to our house upon