eeks after it had been written.

One had to keep in mind that letters leaving the country would be
censored immediately and would not be subjected to further scrutiny in
Europe, whereas letters for South Africa ran every risk of being
betrayed on examination, after a three-weeks' journey by land and sea.

When the smuggled instructions were well on their way, the first White
Envelope was written to Holland, and carelessly thrust amongst a pile
of other letters by the quaking Hansie when next she handed her mail
to "Miserable Renegade."

He glanced through them all without examining them, merely putting the
mark of the censor on them and assuring Hansie that they would be
forwarded that very day.

No seven weeks could have been longer or more full of suspense than
those which followed, and the excitement at Harmony when in due time a
square white envelope in the well-known hand arrived from Holland can
better be imagined than described.

With what anxiety it was opened and how eagerly examined before the
hot iron was applied! how keen the delight when nothing legible was
found, even on the closest inspection! What relief, at last, when the
written messages became not only legible, but clear and distinct!

So this method was going to answer beyond their wildest expectations!

To make assurance doubly sure, and because Hansie did not trust
"Miserable Renegade" one jot, she sometimes made use of friends, going
to Johannesburg, to post her White Envelope there, giving as her
reason for doing so the difficulties she had had with the Pretoria
censor.

Of course the secret of the White Envelope was not confided even to
her most intimate friends.

This correspondence having been fairly established, there was nothing
to prevent Hansie from using the European mail every week; but to
avoid needless risks and the possible exposure of the valuable secret,
it was agreed to use it only in cases of extreme necessity.

The sign of the White Envelope became an understood thing between the
conspirators, and for all other correspondence grey and coloured
envelopes were used.

The correspondent in the north of Holland was a young minister of the
Gospel who had taken for years an unusual interest in Hansie's career.

At this point of our story the two young people, after some years of
estrangement, brought about by an unfortunate misunderstanding on his
part, pride and self-will on hers, had reached the delightfully
unsettling