Chapter 12 Chapter Eleven

Jamie McGregor lived a full year from the day he fell ill.This period was also the happiest in Margaret's life.Jamie has become a complete piece of shit.He could neither speak nor move.Margaret took care of her husband meticulously and stood by his side day and night.During the day, she made him sit in a wheelchair in the sewing room, and she talked to him while knitting sweaters and capes for him.She narrated to him all the little things about the family that he never had time to hear before.She told him that little Kate was looking very well.At night, she carried the scrawny Jamie into her bedroom, and placed him gently beside her.Margaret tucked him in, and then began to chat alone, till they fell asleep.

David Blackwell, who ran the business of Kruger-Brent Ltd., would often go to Margaret's house to bring papers for her to sign.It pained David to see Jamie paralyzed like that.Everything I have is from this man, David thought. "You've got a good eye, Jamie. Davy's a nice guy." She put down what she was knitting, and smiled. "He kind of reminds me of you. Of course, there's no one as bright as you." , dear. There never will be. How handsome you look, Jamie, how kind and strong. You dared to dream, and now all your dreams have come true, and the company is growing day by day." The job was picked up again. "Little Kate is starting to talk, I'm sure she said this morning: Mummy..."

Jamie sat there, leaning back in his wheelchair, staring forward with one eye. "Her eyes and mouth are exactly like yours, and she will grow into a beauty..." When Margaret woke up the next morning, Jamie McGregor was dead.She held him in her arms, clinging to her. "Rest in peace, my dear. Rest in peace. How much I have always loved you, Jamie. I hope you understand that. Farewell, my dear." Now she is alone, her husband and son have left her, and only she and her little daughter are left. Margaret walked into the nursery and looked down at Kate in her crib. "Catherine Kate, the name comes from the Greek word meaning clear or pure. That's the name given to saints, friars and queens."

Margaret exclaimed, "Which one will you be, Kate?" ※※※ It was an era of great development in South Africa, but it was also an era of great conflict.In the Transvaal there was a long-running dispute between the Boers and the British.Later, this dispute developed to the point where it was on the verge of breaking out. On Thursday, October 12, 1899, which happened to be Kate's seventh birthday, the British declared war on the Boers.Three days later, the Orange Free State was attacked.David wanted to persuade Margaret to leave South Africa with Katie, but Margaret refused. "My husband is here," she said.

Margaret was reluctant to leave, and there was nothing David could do. "I'm going to join the Boers' ranks," David told her. "Can you do it?" "Of course not," said Margaret. "I'll try to keep the company going." David left the next morning. ※※※ The British were counting on a quick and easy war, a sweep, and they started out confident, carefree, even festive.In London's Hyde Park, a farewell banquet was held at the barracks.The menu is specially designed to show a British soldier holding a tray with a pig's head on it. However, the development of the war situation was beyond the expectations of the British.The Boers fought hard and resolutely on their own territory, the first battle being fought at Mafetin.It was just a small village there.But the British had their first taste of the strength of their opponents.So reinforcements were quickly brought in from the UK.They surrounded the Kimberley, and after a bloody battle they advanced to take Ladysmith.Initially, the Boers' cannons had a longer range than the British's.So the British unloaded the long-range cannons from British warships and shipped them inland.Those sailors traveled hundreds of miles from their ships to fight with these cannons.

In Kripdrift, Margaret anxiously listened to news of each battle.She and those around her lived with rumours, their moods ranging from elation to despair, depending entirely on the news that came.A staff member ran into her office one morning and said: "I just heard the British are pushing on Kripdrift and they're going to kill us all!" "Nonsense, they dare not touch us." Five hours later, Margaret McGregor was a prisoner of war. Margaret and Kate were taken to Paderberg, one of hundreds of improvised POW camps in South Africa.The prisoners were held in a large empty field surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by armed British soldiers.The living conditions in the prisoner-of-war camps were extremely harsh.

Margaret took Kate in her arms and said to her, "Don't be afraid, dear. Nothing will happen to you." But neither of them believed it.Horrible things happen every day.Because of the fever epidemic in the camp, they watched people around them die.At first it was dozens, hundreds, and later it was thousands.There were neither doctors nor medicines to treat the wounded.Food is even more pitiful.That period of life was a nightmare that lasted for nearly three years and tortured people to death.The worst part is that feeling of hopelessness.The fate of Margaret and Kate rests entirely in the hands of their captors.They depend on them for food and shelter and for survival.Kate lives in fear of seeing the children around her die one by one, fearing that it will be her turn next.She has no strength to protect her mother and herself.She will never forget this lesson in her life.Power, if you have power, you have food, you have medicine, you have freedom.She saw people around her fall ill and die.So she equated power with life.Someday, Kate thought, I'll have the power and no one will be able to do this to me.

※※※ The battle was on—Belmont, Grasbane, Stromberg, down to Spienkop.But in the end, the brave Boers were no match after all under the strong military pressure of the British Empire.After nearly three years of brutal fighting, in 1902 the Boers surrendered. Fifty-five thousand Boers went into battle, and thirty-four thousand soldiers, women and children died in the flames.When those who survived learned that 28,000 of them died in the concentration camps of the British, hatred and hatred suddenly surged in their hearts. On the day the camp's gates opened, Margaret and Kate returned to Kripdrift.A few weeks later, on a quiet Sunday, David Blackwell returned.The war had matured him, but he was still the stern, brooding David Margaret had grown accustomed to leaning on.During those difficult years, while marching and fighting, David still missed Margaret and Kate, wondering whether their mother and daughter were dead or alive.He was overjoyed to find they were still safe at home.

"I failed to protect you two," David said to Margaret. "It's the past, David. We can only look forward and think about our future." The future is Kruger-Brent GmbH. ※※※ For the whole world, 1900 is like a blank page waiting to be written by history.It was a new age that promised peace and boundless hope.A new century begins with a series of amazing inventions that change the way people live on the planet.Steam locomotives were replaced by diesel locomotives.Submarines and airplanes were born.The world population exploded to 1.5 billion.It was also a time of development and expansion.In the six years since, Margaret and David have taken every opportunity to develop their business.

During those years, Kate grew up almost without supervision.Her mother was too busy running the business with David to care about her at all.She was a wild child, stubborn, stubborn, and difficult to discipline.When Margaret came home from a business meeting one afternoon, she saw her fourteen-year-old daughter fighting with two boys in the muddy yard.Margaret's eyes froze with horror, and she couldn't believe what was happening before her eyes. "My God!" she whispered, "is this the girl who will be in charge of Kruger-Brent Ltd. one day! God bless us!"