"Need you ask?" said Burton, tenderly. "The fellow is staying with you still?"
"Yes. He has been here for the last two days talking politics with father, and worrying me. Thank goodness, he goes to-morrow!"
"Glad of it," growled Burton. "He is the Beast mentioned in Revelation. By the way, Brenda, who is Van Zwieten?"
Miss Scarse looked puzzled. "A friend of my father's."
"Yes; but what is his position--where does he come from--how does he make his income? There is something mysterious about the fellow."
"He comes from Holland--he is a friend of Dr. Leyds--and he is shortly going out to fill some post under the Transvaal Government. That's all I know about him."
"He seems to have plenty of money."
"Yes, he spends a good deal, to judge from what I saw of him in town last season. Then he is a popular cricketer, you know."
"I know. But the idea of a foreigner playing cricket!"
"Well, Mr. van Zwieten does, and very well too. You must have seen about his play in the papers. He is a great man at Lord's."