"I did, the last time I stayed there. I left two in a case."
"The case was in the library, and he must have taken one of them out."
"Why--in Heaven's name?"
"Ah, that is a long and painful story," Mr. Scarse said significantly. "You tell it, Brenda."
And so Brenda related the story of Malet's treachery, and the reasons which had led Lady Jenny to conceal the dead man's shame.
Harold could hardly contain his indignation when he heard that an Englishman had acted so base a part. To be bought and sold by a scoundrelly Dutchman; to be the creature of a foreign power; and all the while to be acting the rôle of Judas toward the land which had borne him--these things were almost beyond the soldier's comprehension.
"I'd have shot him with my own hand," he cried, striding to and fro, "the low blackguard! The most honest action Van Zwieten ever did in his life was to kill the wretch."
"Don't talk so loud, Harold!" said his wife; "we must keep this to ourselves for Lady Jenny's sake."
"Yes, you are right, Brenda; and I will make quite sure of the silence of Van Zwieten by shooting him at sight. I am certain to come across him, and when I do I'll finish him; not because he murdered Malet, but because he tempted him to be a traitor!"
When at last his indignation had cooled down somewhat, Harold introduced his wife to the captain and the other officers. Without revealing too much, he related how, hearing he had been taken prisoner, and that he was at Pretoria, she had started out in search of him, when she had been intercepted by the Juno. And she received so many compliments on her pluck that she blushed as she had never before blushed in her life. Her beauty was greatly admired by the susceptible tars; and Harold was considered a lucky fellow to have so charming and clever and brave a wife. Mr. Scarse, after all he had recently heard of the Boers, was not inclined to champion them quite so openly, and therefore he got on well enough. On the whole, the short voyage was most enjoyable, and recompensed Brenda for all that she had suffered on board the Kaiser Fritz. Indeed, it was with great regret that she left the Juno at Durban. And she vowed ever after that sailors were the finest and most delightful of men. Harold reminded her laughingly that she belonged to the junior branch of the Service. When they were leaving, the captain gave Captain Burton a parting word of warning.