by our train to-night.  At this juncture, seeing there was no prospect of any immediate departure, I installed myself comfortably with a book in the waiting-room, and was so absorbed that I did not even notice the arrival of a train from Heidelberg, till the door opened, and my nephew, the Duke of Marlborough, looked in, and we exchanged a surprised greeting, being totally unaware of each other’s whereabouts.  Except for meeting Winston in Pretoria, I had not seen the face of one of my relations for more than a year, but so many surprising things happen in wartime that we did not evince any great astonishment at this strange and unexpected meeting.  In answer to my inquiries as to what brought him there, he told me he was returning to Pretoria with his temporarily incapacitated chief, General Ian Hamilton, who was suffering from a broken collar-bone, incurred by a fall from his horse.  Expecting to find the General in a smart ambulance carriage, it was somewhat of a shock to be guided to a very dilapidated old cattle-truck, with open sides and a floor covered with hay.  I peeped in, and extended on a rough couch in the farther corner, I perceived the successful General, whose name was in everybody’s mouth.  In spite of his unlucky accident, he was full of life and spirits, and we had quite a long conversation.  I have since often told him how interesting was his appearance, and he, in reply, has assured me how much he was impressed by a blue bird’s-eye cotton dress I was wearing, the like of which he had not seen since he left England, many months before.  His train soon rumbled on, and then we had a snug little dinner in the ladies’ waiting-room that the Station-Commandant, a gallant and hospitable Major, had made gay with trophies, photographs, and coloured pictures out of various journals.  From a deep recess under his bed he produced an excellent bottle of claret, and the rest of the dinner was supplied from the restaurant.

The short African winter’s day had faded into a blue and luminous night, resplendent with stars, and still our belated train tarried.  However, the situation was improved, for later advices stated that the Boers had cleared off from the vicinity of the railway-line, and that we should surely leave before midnight.  All these rumours certainly added to the excitement of a railway-journey, and it occurred to me how tame in comparison would be the ordinary departure of the “Flying Scotsman,” or any other of the same tribe that nightly leave the great London termini.

At length, with many a puff and agonized groan from the poor little undersized engine, we departed into the dim, mysterious night, which hourly became more chill, and which promised a sharp frost before morning.  As we crawled out of the station, our kind military friends saluted, and wished us, a little ironically, a pleasant journey.  When I was about to seek repose, Major White looked in, and said:  “Sleep with your head away from the window, in case of a stray shot”; and then I turned down the light, and was soon in the land of dreams.