CHAPTER XVI[ToC]
A CONSIGNMENT OF EXPLOSIVES
The following story was related to Hansie by her mother soon after her return from the Irene Camp, and must be repeated here for its connection with subsequent events.
One afternoon in June Mrs. van Warmelo had been visited by a young friend, Miss F., with a man whom she introduced as her brother, an unexpected arrival from Europe.
"Indeed!" Mrs. van Warmelo exclaimed. "What a delightful surprise it must have been to you!"
"Yes, but he is leaving again very, very soon. In fact"—here Miss F.'s manner became mysterious—"he is here on a mission and we shall see very little of him."
Mrs. van Warmelo expressed her regret at this, and the conversation naturally turned to the general topic, the war.