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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Marie by H. Rider Haggard: in with us and close the door behind her.
When all were seated and we men had lit our pipes, though apprehension
of what was to follow quite took away my taste for smoking, Marais spoke
in English, which he knew to a certain extent. This was for the benefit
of my father, who made it a point of honour not to understand Dutch,
although he would answer Marais in that language when _he_ pretended not
to understand English. To me he spoke in Dutch, and occasionally in
French to Marie. It was a most curious and polyglot conversation.
"Young Allan," he said, "and you, daughter Marie, I have heard stories
concerning you that, although I never gave you leave to 'opsit'" (that
is, to sit up alone at night with candles, according to the Boer fashion
Marie |
