5. BELOVED TRAITOR
CHAPTER 1
Lettie’s heart beats in her throat, and her hands tremble as she locks the door. She realizes how her hands are shaking when she almost drops the lamp as she picks it up from the kitchen table and walks to the living room with it.
Why does she feel so uneasy tonight? It is not the first time that Koos has left her alone in the big house like this. She knew that it was one of his men, Van Niekerk, knocking at the back door, but for a moment she was so paralyzed by fright, caused by his sudden, loud knocking, that she could not open the door and take the letters from him.
She now walks with the letters through to the living room. There is one from her father and mother, and one in a handwriting that seems completely strange to her. But when she now, under the light of the lamp, looks at it attentively, her heart suddenly begins to beat excitedly.
It is Len’s handwriting, that Len van Staden! She puts the lamp down on the table, with the heavy green tablecloth over it, and hastily tears open Len van Staden’s letter. It is only a short, hastily written note. “Dear Koos and Lettie, I am writing in haste just to let you know that I will probably be in your area this week. I am actually coming to that region on official work, but I will surely have a chance to chat with you about the “good old days.” I still owe you a congratulation on your marriage. Greetings. Len van Staden.”
Lettie stares at the letter in her hands. There is a blush of excitement on her cheeks, because this news from Len, that he is coming to visit, is the last thing on earth she ever expected. In fact, she has already wondered if Len might be dead. Six months ago, he disappeared from her life like a pin, after she had thought of him day and night, with the firm expectation in her heart that he would one day appear and ask her to be his wife. But he never came.
And he sent no word of what had become of him after he had taken those villains he had caught on her parents’ farm to Lydenburg to appear before the landdrost. She heard that he had gone to Pretoria. But he did not leave by post coach, but on horseback, and consequently, she could not believe that his journey was so far. She expected him to show up any day, with his engaging smile, and to have tales to tell of new adventures that he had experienced as a special police agent.
But he did not come. And Koos Basson was on her parents’ farm every day - Koos, who, when they still lived on the Highveld, had been her playmate. Previously there was an understanding between her and Koos, although she was actually just a schoolgirl then. And Koos tactfully rekindled the dying embers of the fire from the past. Her father strongly supported Koos in his effort to win her heart and her hand because, secretly, he had probably always regarded Len as a bit of an adventurer and a loose cannon, despite his inexpressible gratitude towards him.
The weeks of Len’s silent absence turned into months, and eventually, she succumbed to the increasing pressure.
Lettie knows that her father heaved a sigh of relief when she decided to marry Koos Basson.
And now this note from Len arrives!
A hesitant smile appears at the corners of Lettie’s mouth. It is a smile in which almost a hint of fear can be detected. She wonders what fate might have in store for her.
For a long time, she sits motionless, staring at the rainy darkness outside. Her thoughts wander far away. Where would Koos be tonight? Why does she feel uneasy about Koos’s activities lately?
She finally pushes away, with a sigh, the strange thoughts that come into her heart, tears open the lett
