in the morning, and that he had not
been too lazy to shave. He would gladly have been looking his best now
that the eyes of this elegant lady of title and fashion were on him.

"I am at your ladyship's service," he murmured.

"Now that is really kind of you. Please get down from your horse. How
can I talk to you when you are so high above me?"

The captain dismounted and gave his horse to one of the troopers. The
Comtesse laid her hand on his arm and smiled at him.

"We have a little _fete_ planned for to-day," she said. "We are going to
have a pic-nic by the sea. Will you not join us. It will be so kind of
you. My niece wishes also to bathe. But I--I am not very anxious to go
into the sea. Perhaps you and I might wait for her in some pleasant spot
and prepare the pic-nic while she and her maid go to the bathing-place.
What do you say, captain?"

"I shall be delighted," he said, "quite delighted."

Captain Twinely had never before been so smiled on by a pretty
woman. Never before had such fine eyes looked into his with such an
unmistakable challenge to flirtation. He was almost certain that he felt
the Comtesse's hand press his arm slightly. He grew pink in the face
with pleasure.

"We must tell my niece."

She leaned towards Captain Twinely and whispered in his ear. Her breath
touched his cheek. The delicate, faint scent of her clothes reached him.

A confidence, entailing the close proximity of this desirable lady, was
an unlooked-for delight.

"My dear niece is very young--a mere child, you understand me, unformed,
gauche, what you call shy. You will make excuse for her want of manner."

The apology was necessary. In Una's face, if he had eyes for it at all,
Captain Twinely might have seen something more than shyness. There was
an expression of loathing on the girl's lips and in her eyes when he
stepped up to her, hat in hand.

"Una," said the Comtesse, "the dear captain will take pity on us. He
will send one of his men back to the house to fetch a cold chicken and
some wine--and all the delightful things we are to eat and drink. Give
him a note to the butler, Una, we will go on with Captain Twinely."

Una, puzzled, but obedient to a quick glance from her aunt, wrote
the note. The troopers, leading Captain Twinely's horse, rode back to
Dunseveric House. The Comtesse, still leaning on the captain's arm,
picked up her bundle of bathing clothes.

"Allow me to carry that for you," said the captain, "allo