Soon after his arrival in Cape Town, Donald Laure had met Dainty. She was little more than a child in years, but matured in form, and being possessed of dangerous beauty was attractive to this impulsive Scotchman from the cold North, where women of her radiant type are never seen.
From the first moment he saw her, he had only one thought, one idea, which grew to a determined purpose, and that was, to possess her. She was a wild bird and knew little of the world’s ways, and as he was the first man who had laid siege to her heart he amused her, and she grew more and more interested in him.
When a few weeks later he asked her to become his wife, she consented with a half wonder, half delight; and when the marriage ceremony had taken place, and they were on their way to Kimberley, she could scarcely realise the fact that she was a wife; it was all so strange and sudden.
Four years after we find her dreaming on her divan, with nothing to do in life but to dream.
Chapter Four.
The Unwelcome Letter.
The morning following the events related in our first chapter, found Kimberley in a high state of excitement.