cleansed it with my hands, marking it by its
spotlessness for the habitation of white folk among the
yellow people all around. Kornel did little to aid me in
that--for the most part he was seeking work in the town; and
even when he was at home I drove him sharply from the labor
that was mine, and mine alone. The yellow people were very
curious about it all, and would stand and watch me through
the door till Kornel sjamboked them away; and even then
some of their fat talkative women would come round with
offers of help and friendship. But though we were fallen to
poverty, we had not come so low as that; and few came to me
a second time, and none a third.

"Still, though Kornel humbled himself and asked very little
money, there was no work to be had in the dorp. No
storekeeper had a use for him, and the transport agents had
too many riders already. Day after day went by, and each
day he came back more grim, with a duller light in those
kind eyes of his and a slower twinkle.

"'You must trust in yourself,' I told him, as he sat by the
table and would have it that he was not hungry.

"'I trust in you,' he answered, with a pitiable attempt at
his old sparkle. 'You have proved yourself; I have not--yet,
and I could do the work of three Kafirs, too.'

"The next day he came home at noon, with a swing in his
gait and his fingers working.

"'I've got work,' he said, 'at last.'

"I stopped sewing and looked at him. 'Is it a white man's
work?' I asked.

"'It is work,' he retorted.

"'Very well,' I said; 'but remember, we sink or soar
together, and in neither case will I blame you. If you get
white man's work, you shall have a white man's wife; but if
you are going to do the work of Kafirs--'

"'Yes,' he said; 'and what then?'

"'In that case,' I answered, 'I shall do washing to eke it
out and be a level mate for you.'

"'By God, you won't!' he cried, and his hand came down hard
on the table. There was no mistaking his face: the command
and the earnestness of it lighted up his eyes. I stared at
him in a good deal of surprise, for though I had known it
was there, this was the first I had seen of the steel
strain in my man.

"'Call it Kafir work, or what you please,' he went on, with
a briskness of speech that made answer impossible. 'You
will keep this house and concern yourself with that only.
The gaining of money is my affair. Leave it to me,
therefore.'

"I cast down my eyes, knowing I must obey, but a litt