Ormsby was selfish, as you know; but he had a great respect for Frankfort, who, without making a fuss about being a "man of honour," _was_ an honourable man. Ah, reader! there is a wide difference between the two, as perhaps you have found before now. That evening Ormsby went to Mr Daveney, and solicited leave to pay his addresses to his daughter Marion. Mr Daveney desired time to think; but, at any rate, refused to hear of a definite engagement until the young soldier had reconsidered the subject, and written home to his father for "consent and approbation." Nay, the honest-hearted settler--Mr Daveney and his wife often referred to themselves as settlers--would have had the young man return to his regiment without delay, that he might try the test of time and absence, before Marion was even consulted; but despatches suddenly arrived, bringing accounts of the result of the great meeting with the chiefs, who, contrary to their usual practice, breathed nothing but war and defiance in the very teeth of the authorities. It was clear, the borders of the colony could not be passed with any chance of safety. There seemed no alternative now but to await the reiteration of the war-cry, and stand to arms from Port Elizabeth to Natal. The Dutch in the upper districts refused their aid in the Colonial cause, and the Kafirs chuckled at hearing that the _Amahulu_ and the _Amaglezi_--(the Boers and the English)--were "barking at each other like dogs." The little episode of which Marion was the heroine had been the means of bringing Eleanor and Frankfort into nearer communion than during the first week of their acquaintance. The young widow's gravity of manner was little changed, but the deep melancholy was gradually giving way before the influence of a mind that opened its stores chiefly for her. She did not talk more than usual, but she listened, and Frankfort felt he had gained a vantage-ground. He kept it, too. Like Scheherazade in the "Arabian Nights," he always contrived, when he quitted this fair, sad creature's side, to leave something for her mind to rest upon; some subject which she would wish resumed. I am wrong in using the word "contrived"--that was not Frankfort's "way"--but the interest Eleanor took in all that he so pleasantly and intelligently discussed invested it with an additional charm to himself.