In an instant Tom made his appearance with a decided color in his cheeks; and Miss Katy--well, Miss Katy’s face was the color of a peony, or a carnation. Shall I reveal to you, gentle reader, what Tom told me long afterward? He had advanced and been repulsed--had attacked and been “scattered.” Pardon the slang of the army, and admire the expeditious operations of the gentlemen of the cavalry! Tom was blushing, but laughing too. He was game, if he _was_ unfortunate. He did not even decline the material enjoyment of lunch, and having led in the young Miss Katy, with a charmingly foppish air, took his seat at the table, which promised so much pleasure of another description. The fates frowned on us. Tom was unlucky that day, and I was drawn into the vortex of bad fortune. Suddenly a clatter of hoofs came from the grass plat in front of the house; the rattle of sabres from a company of cavalry followed; and the young ladies had just time to thrust us into the conservatory, when the door opened, and an officer in blue uniform, accompanied by a lady, entered the apartment. XI. I OVERHEAR A SINGULAR CONVERSATION. I recognized the new-comers at a glance. They were Darke, and the gray woman. There was no mistaking that powerful figure, of low stature, but herculean proportions; that gloomy and phlegmatic face, half-covered with the black beard; and the eye glancing warily, but with a reckless fire in them, from beneath the heavy eye-brows. The woman wore an elegant gray riding habit--gray seemed a favorite with her. Her cheeks were as white as ever, and her lips as red. Her bearing was perfectly composed, and she advanced, with the long riding skirt thrown over her arm, walking with exquisite grace. All this I could easily see. The glass door of the conservatory had been left ajar in the hurry of our retreat, and from behind the lemon-trees and flower-bushes, we could see into the apartment without difficulty. There was evidently little danger of our discovery. The new-comers had plainly entered the house with no design to search it. Darke advanced into the apartment; made the ladies a bow, which more than ever convinced me that he had been familiar with good society; and requested food for the lady. She had tasted none for many hours, and was faint. He would not ask it for himself, inasmuch as he was an enemy. He bowed again as he spoke, and was silent. The young ladies had listened coldly. As he finished, they pointed to the waiter, and without speaking, they left the apartment. Darke was left alone with the woman in gray. She seemed to have regarded ceremony as unnecessary. Going to the table, she had already helped herself, and for some moments devoured, rather than ate, the food before her. Then she rose, and went and took her seat in a rocking-chair near the fire. Darke remained erect, gazing at her, in silence.