'Singular!' remarked Megret, whilst the brother sufferers bowed silently to each other. 'I was lately at Hernoesand, and could hear nothing of you there, although I took particular pains to find you.' 'I reside there no longer,' answered Mac Donalbain, not without some embarrassment. 'A difficulty which I had there, induced me to remove to Arnaes.' 'A difficulty?' asked Megret, smiling. 'I am sorry for that. I hope it was not with the public authorities?' 'One readily perceives, colonel,' interfered Christine, with bitterness, 'that you are a foreigner. In hospitable Sweden, such questions are not allowable, even from the host himself, much less from one guest to another.' 'Why so excited, countess?' asked Megret with his customary cold smile. 'If sir Mac Donalbain _will_ not or _cannot_ answer my question, I shall be content. He has my sympathy, notwithstanding; and, in my journey back to Stockholm, I should be pleased to go round by Arnaes to take personal leave of him.' 'However agreeable that might be to me,' said Mac Donalbain equivocally, 'I must yet by anticipation regret that probably you would not meet me. The amusement of the chase is my passion, and I am almost always abroad.' 'So it appears,' said Megret with a piercing glance, and, turning to the governor, he commenced a conversation with him, respecting the preparations for war making by Denmark and Russia, which threatened poor Sweden anew. Arwed who took a part in this discussion, could not forbear casting an occasional scrutinizing glance at Mac Donalbain, who had commenced a low and apparently interesting conversation with Christine. He saw how the dark eyes of the Scot flashed upon the angelic countenance of the maiden, saw how the latter regarded her wild neighbor with a mixture of fear and anger, of passion and aversion, and he thought, 'what a pity it would be, if this beautiful and innocent creature should have thrown away her heart upon such a man!' The table was at length cleared. Megret and Mac Donalbain bade their host good night and went to their chambers. Christine kissed her father with humble tenderness, and in a low voice asked him, 'are you still angry?' 'Amend yourself, perverse girl,' said the old man; and gently parting the golden locks from her fair forehead, impressed upon it an affectionate parental kiss. 'My kind, kind father! indeed I do not deserve so much love,' cried the maiden, with deep emotion, pressing his hand to her heaving bosom. She then arose and departed, giving an unfriendly glance and a slighting nod as she passed Arwed. He also wished to seek his bed; but his uncle drew him into a chair near him and filled his goblet again. 'You must help me finish the last bottle, major,' said he. 'I have not at all enjoyed your company yet, and must say to you once more, now we are alone, how dear you are to me. Truly you have come to my house in a good hour! and I hope at some future time to have much to thank you for.'