Well, it was but little I heard of my half-brother, except that he had turned out very badly, married, and taken to drink, till one night some twelve years ago, when a strange thing happened.

I was sitting here in this very room, ay, in this very chair--for this part of the house was up then, though the wings weren't built--smoking my pipe, and listening to the lashing of the rain, for it was a very foul night, when suddenly an old pointer dog I had, named Ben, began to bark.
"'Lie down, Ben, it's only the Kafirs,' said I.
"Just then I thought I heard a faint sort of rapping at the door, and Ben barked again, so I got up and opened it, and in came two little girls wrapped in old shawls or some such gear.

Well, I shut the door, looking first to see if there were any more outside, and then I turned and stared at the two little things with my mouth open.

There they stood, hand in hand, the water dripping from both of them; the elder might have been eleven, and the second about eight years old.

They didn't say anything, but the elder turned and took the shawl and hat off the younger--that was Bessie--and there was her sweet little face and her golden hair, and damp enough both of them were, and she put her thumb in her mouth, and stood and looked at me till I began to think that I was dreaming.
"'Please, sir,' said the taller at last, 'is this Mr.Croft's house--Mr.
Croft--South African Republic ?' "'Yes, little Miss, this is his house, and this is the South African Republic, and I am he.