oner, long before I had ever met him. But now, I added, I had
come to the conclusion that Sir Alfred had been terribly maligned.

At this point Rhodes interrupted me with the remark: "So you think that he
is a paragon. Well, I won't contradict you, and, besides, you know that I
have always defended him; but still, with all his virtues, he has not yet
found out what he ought to do with me."

"What can one do with you, Mr. Rhodes?" I asked with a smile.

"Leave me alone," was the characteristic reply, in a tone which was
sufficient for me to follow the advice, as it meant that the man was
getting restive and might at any moment break out into one of those fits
of rage which he so often used as a means to bring to an end a
conversation in which he felt that he might not come out as victor.

A few days later a rabid Rhodesian who happened to be staying at Groote
Schuur approached me. "You have been trying to convert Mr. Rhodes to Sir
Alfred," he remarked.

"I have done nothing of the kind," I said. "I am not a preacher, but I
have been telling Mr. Rhodes that he was mistaken if he thought that he
had an enemy in the High Commissioner."

"Had you any reason to suppose that he considered him one?" was the
unexpected question.

"Well, from what I have seen it seemed to me that you have all been doing
your best to persuade him that such was the case," I retorted, "and why
you should have done so passes my comprehension."

The conversation dropped, but the incident confirmed me in my opinion that
strong forces were at work to sow enmity between Rhodes and Sir Alfred
Milner for fear the influence of the High Commissioner might bring Rhodes
to look at things differently. As things stood at the moment, Rhodes was
persuaded that the High Commissioner hated him, was jealous of him, wanted
him out of his path, and never meant to allow him under any circumstances
whatever to have any say in the settlement of South African affairs. This
conviction, which was carefully nourished from the outside, evoked in his
mind an absurd and silly rage to which no man of common sense, unblinded
by vanity, could have fallen victim. I would not be so foolish as to deny
to the famous Life Governor of De Beers either abundant common sense or
outstanding intelligence, but here was a man gifted with genius who, under
the impulse of passion, could act and speak like a child.

Rhodes looked upon the High Commissioner as a nuisance unfortunately not