can't marry
for four years, on account of the will; then why propose? Wheedle her,
tweedle her, teedle her, but don't let her make sure of you. When a
woman," said Bonaparte, sagely resting his finger against the side of
his nose, "When a woman is sure of you she does what she likes with
you; but when she isn't, you do what you like with her. And I--" said
Bonaparte.

Here he drew the horse up suddenly and looked. He was now close to the
house, and leaning over the pigsty wall, in company with Em, who was
showing her the pigs, was a strange female figure. It was the first
visitor that had appeared on the farm since his arrival, and he looked
at her with interest. She was a tall, pudgy girl of fifteen, weighing
a hundred and fifty pounds, with baggy pendulous cheeks and up-turned
nose. She strikingly resembled Tant Sannie, in form and feature, but
her sleepy good eyes lacked that twinkle that dwelt in the Boer-woman's
small orbs. She was attired in a bright green print, wore brass rings in
her ears and glass beads round her neck, and was sucking the tip of her
large finger as she looked at the pigs.

"Who is it that has come?" asked Bonaparte, when he stood drinking his
coffee in the front room.

"Why, my niece, to be sure," said Tant Sannie, the Hottentot maid
translating. "She's the only daughter of my only brother Paul, and she's
come to visit me. She'll be a nice mouthful to the man that can get
her," added Tant Sannie. "Her father's got two thousand pounds in the
green wagon box under his bed, and a farm, and five thousand sheep,
and God Almighty knows how many goats and horses. They milk ten cows in
mid-winter, and the young men are after her like flies about a bowl of
milk. She says she means to get married in four months, but she doesn't
yet know to whom. It was so with me when I was young," said Tant Sannie.
"I've sat up with the young men four and five nights a week. And they
will come riding again, as soon as ever they know that the time's up
that the Englishman made me agree not to marry in."

The Boer-woman smirked complacently.

"Where are you going to?" asked Tant Sannie presently, seeing that
Bonaparte rose.

"Ha! I'm just going to the kraals; I'll be in to supper," said
Bonaparte.

Nevertheless, when he reached his own door he stopped and turned in
there. Soon after he stood before the little glass, arrayed in his best
white shirt with the little tucks, and shaving himself. He had on his
very b