The knight did not finish what was evidently intended to be a threat, partly because he saw fear coming over the face of his betrothed, and partly that the man for whom his menace was meant had got through the gate, and, with Reginald Trevor by his side, and the soldiers filing in behind them, was now close up to the house. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. NEW FACES AND OLD FOES. While Colonel Lunsford and Captain Trevor were waiting for the haw-haw gate to be opened, they had seen the figures of two ladies outlined in the withdrawing-room windows--one in each. As yet the two gentlemen were not visible to them; these being behind and half-hidden by the arras curtains. As the officers came closer, with eyes still upon the windows, those of Lunsford, after a hasty glance at Vaga, remained fixed upon Sabrina in steadfast, earnest gaze, as on one for the first time seen, but eliciting instant admiration. Trevor had eyes only for the younger of the sisters, his thoughts going back to the last time he had been there. He remembered it with bitterness, for he had fancied himself slighted; and, if so, the time had come for retaliation. "What a beautiful woman! By the Cestus of Venus, a Venus herself!" It was the ex-Lieutenant of the Tower who thus exclaimed. "Which?" queried Reginald Trevor, with more than common interest. Well knew he the flagitious character of the man who was once more his commanding officer. "Which? What a superfluous question! The tall--the dark one--of course. Yellow hair isn't to be compared with her for a moment." "Perhaps not," rejoined Trevor, pretending assent, glad to think his military superior was not likely to be his rival in love. "_Certes_, both seem beauties in their different styles," ran on the reprobate. "Who'd ever have expected such a pair in this out-of-the-way corner of creation? I wish Sir John had given us orders to take up quarters in Hollymead House for a week or two. That may come yet when the devil!" His final ejaculation had nought to do with what preceded. The mention of his Satanic majesty was due to his having caught sight of a face behind that he was in the act of admiring, but the face of a man. A man well-known to him--one he hated, yet feared, as could be told by the scowl instantly overspreading his countenance, along with a whitening of the lips. Nothing of this observed Reginald Trevor, whose features changed expression at the same time, his thoughts all absorbed in what he saw for himself--the face of another man at the other window in close proximity to that of Vaga Powell. "Eustace still here! What the deuce can that mean?"