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‘charitable’ visit to the camps, and nobody seems to be reining her in. We don’t need women sticking their noses in men’s business. And the bloody Germans think if they side with the Boers they’ll be able to get their hands on the mines. Everybody grows a conscience when it suits them.” He waved a finger at Jooste. “I’m not taking any chances. You’ll go to Winburg or not at all.”
    â€œ
Ja
, all right.” Jooste yawned.
    Leath closed his journal. “That will be all.”
    Jooste didn’t move.
    â€œWell?”
    â€œWhat about the money?”
    â€œYou’ll get what we agreed on.” Leath clutched the book under his arm and headed to the door, his spine straight, a stiffness in his step. “Be a good chap and take her to the kitchen so Sarah can clean her up. She reeks.” He disappeared into the house.
    Jooste came up behind Anna, pressing into her. “Sorry to let you go,
Suster
,” he said, his mouth close to her ear. Shame and fear sweptthrough Anna in hot waves. After the night at the blockhouse, Jooste had taken her across winding game paths, staying off the main roads, traveling only at night. They had passed burnt-out farmhouses and dead things, big empty sky stretching endlessly. Sometimes Jooste repeated what he did to her in the blockhouse, right there in the veld like an animal, spending himself, his sweat dripping on her, clinging to her skin, like she was a thing to be used, nothing more. She didn’t know what this Dr. Leath had in store for her, but anything was better than staying with Jooste.
    â€œWhen the war is over,” Anna said, her voice wavering, “the
Boere
will shoot you for what you have done to your people.”
    Jooste laughed. “The
Boere
are losing,
Suster
. By the time this is done, they’ll be too busy making nice with the Khakis to worry about me. See I know which side my bread is buttered. Loyalty doesn’t fill your stomach.”
    A young black woman with deep-set dark eyes, high cheekbones and a wide mouth, dressed in a rust-colored dress and white apron, stood in the kitchen doorway, her hands clasped in front of her, two lines etched between her brows. The kitchen was much warmer than the rest of the house. Tall iron pots and a stack of tin plates and mugs stood on a table, the food smells intoxicating.
    â€œYou Sarah?” Jooste shoved Anna toward the woman. “Deal with this. I’ll eat in the front room.”
    Sarah watched Jooste walk away, her expression filled with loathing. She pointed Anna to a low chair next to a black stove. “Sit here,
Nooi
. Get warm.”
    Anna was unable to take her eyes off the plate of stiff maize porridge and a sloppy stew that Sarah dished and handed to her. She stuck spoonfuls of it her mouth, barely chewing. The meat was fresh, the meal salted. She was sure it was the best thing she had ever tasted.
    â€œSlow down. You’ll get sick and I’m not cleaning it up.”
    Anna only looked up for a moment before she scraped the drops of sauce up with her fingers, sticking them in her mouth. Sarah shook her head. She dished more plates, placing them in a row on the table before ringing a brass bell mounted on the wall. A petite young woman appeared at the door. She had light-blond hair, partially hidden under a black
kappie
, and wore a simple black dress that didn’tdisguise her bulging stomach. She looked at Anna with little more than passing interest before taking a plate from Sarah.
    Another woman appeared. She had sad blue eyes and sandy hair tied in a bun. The rounding under the black dress wasn’t as far along as the first woman’s, but she moved uncomfortably, her lower back curved, her breasts heavy. She stared at Anna. “Another?”
    Sarah nodded. She handed the woman a plate. “Go on now.”
    Yet another girl appeared, very fair with light freckles dusting her turned-up nose. She was