The little boy beside me rouses from his sleep to ask:—'Mother dear, why do you laugh and shake the bed so?'
Fearing an illness, I yearned for a last interview with my husband. It was a Saturday that I went to Pretoria, and although the prison was supposed to be closed on that day to visitors, I had several times gained admittance through the kindness of those in authority. I went to the Landdrost who had the dispensing of permits.
'Will you please make an exception in my favour and allow me to see my husband? I am ill, and must return to my home in Johannesburg at once.'
'What does she say?' roared the Landdrost, who for some reason was in a furious temper. He turned to a Boer in the room. 'Tell her she may whine as much as she pleases, she can't see her husband on Saturday. Nobody can go in the prison on Saturday. If she wants to see her husband she must wait until next Monday!' The man turned fiercely towards me, but seeing my patient face, or perhaps for the sake of some Boer woman on a distant farm, his voice broke, and became quite gentle as he delivered the message.
With one exception this was the only time I ever received harsh treatment from a Boer official. Of course I sometimes met with a strictness of manner which was to be expected, and which I was quite prepared to submit to. Brutal unkindness I never experienced but twice.
Reaching the jail, whither I had directed the cabman to drive me, I found Advocate Sauer and Mr. Du Plessis standing at the gate. They almost dropped at sight of my face. Dignity had deserted me. I was actually howling in my distress,
'Please, please let me in to my husband!'
Du Plessis, rough and violent as he was to most people, was always kind to me. He opened the wicket and pushed me gently through. That was his answer. My sudden entrance, a ball of a woman with the tears dripping down on to her breast, surprised the warders. They regarded me with stricken faces. One at last rallied. With his eyes still fastened upon me, he called,
'Mister H-a-m-mond, Mister H-a-m-mond, your missis is here!' and my husband came rapidly across the yard.