FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 9: The foregoing regarding the trial and sentence of the
Reformers is from information derived from eye-witnesses and the local
Press.]

XI

By a strange providence Betty and I missed the early train. I had not
reckoned on the delay in dressing which sorrow and fatigue could
occasion.

The paper had announced that the sentence was to be given at noon.
Though I had no intention of being present in the Court-room, I wished
to be within reach of my husband in case he should need me. We took
the local train which left Johannesburg at 10.30.

Our journey came to an end. I saw Mr. Rose Innes and Dr. Scholtz on
the platform.

'Is it the death sentence?'

Mr. Rose Innes, with both hands on my shoulders to keep me from
falling, said 'Yes.'

There were many other friends, I have since learned, who were there to
receive me. I have a hazy recollection of Mr. Barnato, good
kind-hearted 'Barney,' begging me 'not to fret'; that he had brought
my husband to Africa and he meant to stand by him till he got out of
Africa. Mrs. Clement and Betty remained beside me. The day was without
hours to me, a dry aching stretch of time; I had no tears to shed!

At some time in the afternoon Mrs. Joel brought me a flower and a note
from my husband, beseeching me to keep up a brave heart, and assuring
me that he was all right and as comfortable as was possible under the
circumstances.

After the death sentence had been pronounced and the Court dismissed,
Mrs. Joel, with woman's thoughtfulness, put a flask of brandy in her
pocket and started for the prison. In the confusion of receiving the
prisoners she managed to slip in and went at once to the condemned
cell. Her visit was a God-send to the four unhappy men, who were much
worn by months of anxiety, ill-health, and this final strain of the
death sentence. They were bearing up wonderfully well, she said.

One of the lawyers came and sat at the end of my sofa. He burst into
tears. 'We've been played! we've been played!' he exclaimed, with
vehemence. Remembering how the lawyers for the Reformers had muddled
everything from the beginning of the trial, how they had
conscientiously and persistently walked into every trap laid for them,
I sat upright to look squarely into his face. 'My God! when haven't
you been played?'

The effect of the death sentence on Johannesburg was extreme: all
shops and the Stock Exchange were closed, and the flags of the town
we