There was a certain languor and then occasional fiery carelessness in Margarita that must have come to her with the blood of the old heyduc of Palenka, and his bride--some odalisque, perhaps, won by the edge of his sabre amid the plunder of a pasha's household, and hers was the disposition, the passion and the situation, that so often lead to blind and bitter hatred, ending in crime and sorrow. She knew the power of her beauty over all men, and she knew also the claim for special gratitude over this loyal, dauntless, and grateful heart, and hoped that she knew how to use both; thus many a time she looked at him with her bright, languid eyes, the colour of which was often difficult to define, with an expression which seemed to say: 'I saved your life and honour--therefore you ought to belong to me, and to no one else!' And Cecil found it impossible to deny, even to himself, the knowledge and certainty that this woman, so dazzlingly fair that few women ever saw her without jealousy, and fewer men without admiration or passion, had been ready--and was now ready--to risk shame, suffering or danger, and fly with him, seeking obscurity and exile in Bulgaria or anywhere else. 'Was ever man more tempted!' thought he, as he saw--with satisfaction--the gilded vanes and cupolas of Palenka glittering in the sunshine above the green-wooded bank of the Morava, and he reined up his horse to bid her farewell. 'You will surely ride up to Palenka, and bid mamma adieu?' she said, her eyes dilating with reproach. 'To visit Palenka, or anywhere else, is inconsistent with my duty; and the count your brother viewed my sojourn there with unconcealed displeasure.' 'As you please,' said she, coldly. Then, after a pause, she added, 'We have resolved to leave Servia, mamma and I, for a time--my brother wishes us to do so.' 'I would fain see you once again,' said he, with an access of tenderness, suited, however, to the occasion; 'but it may not be. To-night I shall halt in the wood near Tjuprija, and to-morrow go back on the spur to Deligrad.' 'The wood near Tjuprija--that is close at hand; so if we who have been so strangely thrown together are parted to meet no more in the future, and you would care to see me once again--just once--at noon to-morrow be by the wayside chapel on the rocks above the ruin--the chapel of Lazar--and--' she paused, as a spasm of pain made her proud and beautiful face quiver, 'and I shall be there.' 'At noon, then, to-morrow,' said he, bending over her gauntleted hand and kissing it, after which she rode off at a quick pace, followed by her two attendants, while Cecil fell back and rejoined his troopers, who made all haste to put out and hide the pipes in which they had--in defiance of orders--been indulging during his recent preoccupation in front of them.