intended to keep
the ladies in view.

"This is abominable," said Una. "How dare they follow us when we are
going to bathe?"

"My dear," said the Comtesse, laughing, "they very likely think that we
are not going to bathe. So far as I am concerned, their suspicions are
quite just. I am certainly not going to undress on a nasty rock which
would cut my feet, and then go into cold salt water to have my toes
nipped by crabs and lobsters. The worthy Hannah is not going to bathe
either. She has too much good sense. Even these stupid yeomen must guess
that we are carrying something else besides towels."

"But I am going to bathe," said Una, "and it is intolerable that I
should be spied upon and watched."

The Comtesse rose and approached the men.

"Where is Captain Twinely this morning?" she asked, smiling.

"Here he is, coming along the road forninst you, Miss."

The man spoke civilly enough. It was natural to be civil to the Comtesse
when she smiled. She had fine eyes, and was not too proud to use them in
a very delightful manner even when the man before her was no more than a
trooper in a company of yeomen.

"So he is!" she said. "And my good gentleman trooper, how nice your
manners are. I am, alas! no longer 'Miss,' though it pleases you to
flatter me. I am 'Madam,' a widow, quite an old woman."

She left him and hurried forward to greet Captain Twinely.

"I am charmed to meet you, Captain Twinely. But why have you never
been up to call on us? We hear that you have been two whole days in our
neighbourhood and not even once have you come to see us. How rude and
unkind you are. I would not have believed it of you. But perhaps you
have been very busy chasing the odious rebels and had no time to visit
us poor ladies."

"I didn't think I was wanted at Dunseveric House, my lady," said the
captain.

Like his trooper, he was aware that the Comtesse smiled at him, and that
she had beautiful eyes.

"I will not take that as an excuse," she said. "Surely you must know,
Captain Twinely, that we are two lonely women, that my lord and my
nephew are away. You must have guessed that we should suffer, ah, so
terribly, from 'ennui'. Is it not the first duty of an officer to
pay his respects to the ladies and to amuse them, especially in this
terrible country where it is only the military men who have any manners
at all?"

Captain Twinely was delighted and embarrassed. He wished that he had
brushed his uniform more carefully