Lewie smiled feebly, and felt himself in a foolish predicament; so the Countess spoke again. 'He had some disappointment in early life, I believe, and never got over it.' 'Yes, madam.' 'Poor fellow! and of Dolores----' 'He will not hear me speak with patience.' 'How grotesque!' exclaimed the Countess, laughing heartily. 'Ah, could he but see her!' exclaimed the young man, regarding the upturned face of her he loved with something of adoration. 'Your uncle the General is very cruel, Lewie,' said Dolores; 'he is a veritable ogre!' 'He is the king of good fellows, but----' 'But what?' 'He has never seen you.' 'And never shall,' she said petulantly, opening and shutting her fan. 'Nay, dearest Dolores, do not say so.' 'The ogre, or worse!' exclaimed the girl, with a pout on her sweet lips. 'Nay--no worse--only a man,' said the Countess, laughing excessively; 'he thinks of us only as women, but to be shunned--avoided--dreaded. It is very droll!' And looking down, she played with the _étui_ and appendages that hung from her girdle, her tiny watch with the judgment of Solomon embossed on its case; and as she did so, Lewie thought her hand as white and dimpled as that of Dolores. To him it certainly seemed strange that the opposition of his uncle seemed only to provoke--not the pride or the indignation of the lively Countess--but her laughter and amusement. 'And if he gets me banished on foreign service to the Dutch West Indies!' he urged rather piteously. 'My poor Lewie,' said she, patting his cheek with her fan, 'I must see what can be done; meantime, we must be patient and wait. From all I have heard and know, an early disappointment at the hands of one he loved only too well, has shaken his faith in human goodness and integrity, and now he is soured, suspicious and sarcastic.' 'But only so far as women are concerned.' 'True; and I suppose he is like a French writer, who says that "of all serious things, marriage is the most ridiculous;" but men are not infallible, especially men like your uncle the General--_errare humanum est_. Let us be patient a little, and all will come right in the end.' But Dolores and her lover would only sigh a little impatiently as her hand stole into his, and the twilight of evening deepened around them. CHAPTER V. 'THE BULWARK OF HOLLAND.' And now while the lovers are waiting in hope, while the General is 'nursing his wrath to keep it warm,' and determined upon their separation; and while Maurice Morganstjern is plotting what mischief he may work them, we shall briefly tell the story of the Scots Brigade, and how it came to be called 'the Bulwark of Holland.'