As for the men, there was young Paltz Clavarack, ensign in the Half-moon Regiment, very fine in his orange-faced uniform; and there was Major Harrow, of the New York line; and a jolly, handsome dare-devil, Captain Tully O'Neil, of the escort of horse, who hung to Dorothy's skirts and whispered things that made her laugh. There were others, too, aides in new uniforms, a medical officer, who bustled about in the rôle of everybody's friend; and a parcel of young subalterns, very serious, very red, and very grave, as though the destiny of empires reposed in their blue-and-gold despatch pouches. "I wonder," murmured Dorothy, leaning towards me and speaking behind her rose-plumed fan--"I wonder why I answered you so." "Because I deserved it," I muttered, "Cousin I Cousin!" she said, softly, "you deserve all I can give--all that I dare not give. You break my heart with kindness." I stepped to her side; all around us rose the hum of voices, laughter, the click of spurs, the soft sounds of silken gowns on a polished floor. "It is you who are kind to me, Dorothy," I whispered, "I know I can never have you, but you must never doubt my constancy. Say you will not?" "Hush!" she whispered; "come to the dining-hall; I must look at the table to see that all is well done, and there is nobody there.... We can talk there." She slipped off through the throng, and I sauntered into the gun-room, from whence I crossed the hallway and entered the dining-hall. Dorothy stood inspecting the silver and linen, and giving orders to Cato in a low voice. Then she dismissed the row of servants and sat down in a leather chair, resting her forehead in her hands. "Deary me! Deary me!" she murmured, "how my brain whirls!... I would I were abed!... I would I were dead!... What was it you said concerning constancy? Oh, I remember; I am never to doubt your constancy." She raised her fair head from between her hands. "Promise you will never doubt it," I whispered. "I--I never will," she said. "Ask me again for the minuet, dear. I--I refused everybody--for you." "Will you walk it with me, Dorothy?" "Yes--yes, indeed! I told them all I must wait till you asked me." "Good heavens!" I said, laughing nervously, "you didn't tell them that, did you?" She bent her lovely face, and I saw the smile in her eyes glimmering through unshed tears. "Yes; I told them that. Captain O'Neil protests he means to call you out and run you through. And I said you would probably cut off his queue and tie him up by his spurs if he presumed to any levity. Then he said he'd tell Sir George Covert, and I said I'd tell him myself and everybody else that I loved my cousin Ormond better than anybody in the world and meant to wed him--" "Dorothy!" I gasped. "Wed him to the most, beautiful and lovely and desirable maid in America!" "And who is that, if it be not yourself?" I asked, amazed. "It's Maddaleen Dirck, the New York heiress, Lysbet's sister; and you are to take her to table."