She roused herself to action at last and got up from the table.  Something fell on the ground as she did so.  It was the key that Burke had given into her care.  She knew it for the key of his strong-box in which he kept his money and papers.  His journeys to Brennerstadt were never frequent, and she knew that he usually kept a considerable sum by him.  The box was kept on the floor of the cupboard in the wall of the room which Guy now occupied.  It was very heavy, so heavy that Burke himself never lifted it, seldom moved it from its place, but opened and closed it as it stood.  She wondered as she groped for the key why he had given it to her.  That action of his pointed to but one conclusion.  He expected to be going into danger.  He would not have parted with it otherwise.  Of that she was certain.  He and Guy were both going into danger then, and she was left in utter solitude to endure her suspense as best she could.

She searched in vain for the key.  It was small and made to fit a patent lock.  The darkness of the room baffled her search, and at last she abandoned it and went to the pantry for a lamp.  The Kaffirs had gone to their huts.  She found the lamp empty and untrimmed in a corner, with two others in the same condition.  The oil was kept in an outbuilding some distance from the bungalow, and there was none in hand.  She diverted her search to candles, but these also were hard to find.  She spent several minutes there in the darkness with the wind howling weirdly around like a lost thing seeking shelter, and the sand beating against the little window with a persistent rattle that worried her nerves with a strange bewilderment.

Eventually she found an empty candlestick, and after prolonged search an end of candle.  Sand was everywhere.  It ground under her feet, and made gritty everything she touched.  Was it fancy that brought to her the smell of burning, recalling Burke’s words?  She found herself shivering violently as she went to her own room for matches.

It was while she was here that there came to her above the roar of the wind a sudden sound that made her start and listen.  Someone was knocking violently, almost battering, at the door that led into the passage.

Her heart gave a wild leap within her.  Somehow—­she knew not wherefore—­her thoughts went to Kieff.  She had a curiously strong feeling that he was, if not actually at the door, not far away.  Then, even while she stood with caught breath listening, the door burst open and a blast of wind and sand came hurling into the house.  It banged shut again instantly, and there followed a tramping of feet as if a herd of cattle had entered.  Then there came a voice.

“Damnation!” it said, with vigour.  “Damnation!  It’s a hell of a country, and myself was the benighted fool ever to come near it at all.  Whist to it now!  Anyone would think the devil himself was trying for admittance.”