A part of the garrison having been detached under Sir Robert Sale to Jellalabad, his brigade had barely entered the terrible and tortuous ravines which lead thereto, ere it was attacked by the mountain hordes, and had to fight its way inch by inch for miles, and by the middle of November, about the time this portion of our story opens, the sixty thousand citizens of Cabul and the tribes of the surrounding country were ripe for insurrection, the fiery elements of discord being fanned by Ackbar Khan in person. And such was the state of affairs in and around Cabul on that day, when Waller and Denzil, both well-armed--as they could not forget the friendly warnings of Taj Mohammed--quitted their quarters in the old fort, to have "tiffin" (_i.e._ luncheon) with the Trecarrels in the house of the General, who had now been some two months with Elphinstone's army, but without yet obtaining that which he had been promised, command of a brigade, unless one to be chiefly formed of Beloochees from the Shah's little army, under Timour the Shahzadeh, could be considered as such a force, that speedily melted away. CHAPTER V. TIFFIN WITH THE TRECARRELS. Situated between the Residency of the Queen's Envoy and the square fort of Kojah Meer, near the high road leading to the city past the base of the Hills of Behmaru, the house of General Trecarrel partook somewhat of the character of a European villa, and had been built about a year before for a wealthy staif officer, who had been transferred to Ceylon almost before it was finished; for so do men change about in an army which is scattered over all the habitable globe. It was two-storeyed, with a spacious dining-room and another apartment, which Mabel and Rose had made a decided attempt to affect as a drawing-room, with rich draperies and many pretty ornaments and suitable decorations brought up country, or purchased in the great bazaar of Cabul. Punkahs were not required in that temperate climate; but a broad verandah, covered with luxuriant creepers, afforded a sufficient shade for the windows, or to promenade under on wet days, or in the sunny summer season. As in India, the arrivals were announced by a stroke on a gong. A few guests were already assembled in the drawing-room, where the General, more erect in bearing, and a little more emphatic in tone, than when last we saw him, and his daughters looking as bright, as showy and as handsome as ever, received Denzil and Waller with a cordiality that made the heart of the former to beat lightly and happily; for he had already begun to find more than pleasure--a joy, in the society of the charming Rose.