"'It is the only thing,' she urged, and drew his lips to hers.
"He looked down at the little weapon in his palm, and spoke as with an effort.
"'I was never a brave man, Anna,' he said, 'and I can't do this. Will you not do it?'
"She nodded and took the pistol. The Kafirs found nothing to work their hate upon."
HER OWN STORY
"But what are you going to live on?" asked the Vrouw
Grobelaar. "You haven't got a farm."
"We're going to live in a town," answered Katje proudly.
I interrupted here, and tried to make the old lady understand that even schoolmasters received some money for their work, and that there would be enough for two, without frills.
She had no answer for the moment, but sat and looked at us both very thoughtfully. Still, there was no hostility in her aspect; she had not her warlike manner, and seemed engrossed rather with an estimate of the situation than of its consequences. I had looked for opposition and disparagement at least, volubly voiced and backed with a bloody example of a failure in marriage, and I know that Katje shared my misgivings. But here was something different.
"You—you are not angry?" asked Katje after a while.