remained there, as far as I know,
until the end of the war.

[Illustration: (map of Harmony and neighbourhood.)]

During the first half-year after the British entry into Pretoria
Harmony's front gate was blocked by the tent of the military post
office, the ropes of which had been fastened to the posts of the gate.
Although the inhabitants of Harmony found it inconvenient to squeeze
through the small opening at the side of the gate, Mrs. van Warmelo
made no objection to the arrangement, because it safeguarded the
property to some extent from possible intruders.

Other houses in the immediate neighbourhood of Harmony were occupied
at different times by Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, the Duke of
Westminster, and many other distinguished personages, with their
staffs. From this it will readily be understood that in the whole of
Pretoria no spot could have been more completely hemmed in by the
vigilant military than Harmony.

How this vigilance was evaded by two Boer women, and how Harmony
became the centre of Boer espionage as time went on, will be the theme
of this story; but I wish my reader clearly to understand that from
beginning to end there was no treachery, no broken promises of peace
and good behaviour.

It was simply taken for granted that the two women in question were
hopelessly cut off from all communication with their friends in the
field, and utterly helpless and incapable of assisting their
fellow-countrymen.

There were no conditions attached to the privilege of remaining
undisturbed in their home, and, though it was well known that their
menfolk were among the fighting burghers and that they themselves
entertained the strongest feelings of antagonism towards the British,
they were quietly left in peace.

Whether the fact that Mrs. van Warmelo's elder daughter was married to
Mr. Henry Cloete, of Alphen, Wynberg, had anything to do with this
unexpected and altogether undeserved leniency, I do not know. It
certainly could not be put down to the credit of our heroines that Mr.
Cloete had at one time been Acting British Agent at Pretoria, nor that
he had shown the British Government such services as earned for him
the distinction of having the Order of Companion of St. Michael and
St. George conferred upon him.

All I can say is that if the van Warmelos owed their security to these
facts, we can only look upon that as one of the fortunate
circumstances of war over which we had no control. Other Boe