"I know not," he muttered, hurriedly: "and yet, Claude, I cannot be so base as to think of her otherwise than as a man of honour ought to do. Her relationship to the old padre is, to say the best of it, somewhat dubious: but then, she is so good-tempered and ladylike—so gentle, so beautiful, and winning—that I cannot, for the soul of me, help loving her; and I pledged——" "Pledged! Maladetto! as they say here, are you engaged to her?" "Why, I did not make a particular—that is to say, not quite an engagement—pshaw! what am I talking here about?" "I see! Ah, Oliver, you are evidently very deeply dipped with her: you cannot steal a march upon me. Let me advise you, Lascelles, to be cautious in your affair with this young lady. Your family, your fortune, all entitle you——" "Thanks, Dundas! I don’t require this tutor-like advice," said he, putting his foot in the stirrup of his roan-horse, with a dash of hauteur in his manner. "At Fiumara, the French keep a sharp look out," I urged. "Be it so," said he: "thither I go at all risks." "You are not acting wisely." "Granted—one never does so in love." "Be cautious, Oliver! I would be loth to lose you; and I find it will be necessary to ’come the senior over you,’ as the mess say, and order that no officer or soldier shall go beyond one mile from camp or quarters." "Do so to-morrow," he added, laughing; "but, meanwhile, ere the order is issued, I shall ride so far as Fiumara to-night. What is the parole?" "_Maida_—countersign _Italy_." "Thank you: I do not wish to be fired on by the blundering Calabri," he replied; little imagining he would never require the watch-word. "Adieu! by midnight I will return." Breaking away, he leaped on his horse, and dashing through the arched portal of the castle, rode down the hill through Scylla at a furious gallop. I was under considerable apprehension for my rash friend’s safety. Midnight passed: slowly the hours of morning rolled on. Day was breaking, and the peaks of Milia were burnished by the yet unrisen sun, when I visited the posts to inquire for Lascelles. He had not returned; and as he had never before been absent so long in such a dangerous neighbourhood, I became very uneasy: deeply I regretted that, even at the risk of unpleasant words, I had not exerted my authority as commanding officer, and compelled him to stay within the castle. The bugle sounded for morning parade at the usual hour; but Oliver Lascelles was not forthcoming: his place in the ranks was vacant.