"Oh! will he?" said the young lady, blushing with pleasure. It would be delightful to see any amicable visage in this city of enemies; and moreover she had never disputed that Captain Colburne, though a Yankee, was gentlemanly and agreeable; she had even admitted that he was handsome, though not so handsome as Colonel Carter. Mrs. Larue was also gratified at the prospect of a male visitor. As Sam Weller might have phrased it, had he known the lady, a man was Mrs. Larue's "particular wanity." The kitchen department of the Ravenels not being yet organized, they dined that day with their relative. The meal over, they went to their own house, Lillie to attend to housekeeping duties, and the Doctor to forget all trouble in a box of minerals. Lillie's last words to Mrs. Larue had been, "You must spend the evening with us. This Captain Colburne is right pleasant." "Is he? We will bring him over to the right side. When he gives up the blue uniform for the grey I shall adore him." "I don't think he will change his coat easily." In her own house she continued to think of the Captain's coat, and then of another coat, the same in color, but with two rows of buttons. "Who did you see out, papa?" she asked presently. "Who did I see out? Mr. Colburne, as I told you." "Nobody else, papa?" "I don't recollect," he said absent-mindedly, as he settled himself to a microscopic contemplation of a bit of ore. "Don't wrinkle up your forehead so. I wish you wouldn't. It makes you look old enough to have come over with Christopher Columbus." It was a part of her adoration of her father that she could not bear to see in him the least symptoms of increasing age.