He had begun to perceive that for some time past, his nephew was abstracted in manner, that he absented himself from his quarters, was rather estranged from his comrades, and was almost neglectful of his military duties; and from rumours that reached him from the idlers and promenaders in the Voorhout and on the Vyverberg, the General was not long in discovering that a charming young girl was the cause of all this, and great was his wrath thereat. And when he found that Lewie Baronald's abstraction increased; that he caught him reading poetry instead of studying the '_Tactique et Discipline dc Prusse_'; that he sighed sometimes involuntarily, and more than once had been caught inditing suspicious-looking little missives in the form of delicately folded, tinted and perfumed notes, he took him finally to task, and his indignation found vent, as it did on the present occasion. 'And you fell in with this girl----' 'When our battalion was sharing duty with the Dutch Guards at the Prince of Orange's palace in Amsterdam.' 'And how about her mother?' growled the General. 'She was very averse to my attendance on her daughter till----' 'Till when or what?' snapped the uncle. 'She asked me some questions concerning my name and family, and then suddenly I became quite a favourite.' 'All cunning--all cunning! But our name and our blood are as good as any in Holland, and better than some, I suppose; but every Scot has a pedigree, as King James was wont to say.' And as General Kinloch spoke, the strong old Scottish accent, which then prevailed at the Bar and in the Pulpit at home (as it had done at Court in the preceding century), deepened with his excitement and irritation. 'And the mother is a widow, Drumlanrig tells me,' he continued; 'a widow who, I doubt not, loves her coffee with a glass of good curaçoa from De Pylsteeg at Amsterdam.' 'Indeed you mistake her, uncle,' replied the young man indignantly. 'Umph--egad--do I?' 'She often speaks to me of you, uncle.' 'Does she? I am greatly honoured.' 'Yes--and seems to know all about you, and your brilliant services to their Mightinesses the States, and so forth.' 'The devil she does! Well, she probably knows also that I never was a lady's man--a lady-killer, a buck, or a blood in my time; so my lady countess may spare her breath to cool her porridge. And _who_ is this Countess van Renslaer? Her name sounds new to me.' 'She has but lately come to Holland.' 'From where?' 'England last, I believe; and none seem to take a higher place at the Court of the Prince of Orange; at the balls of the Grand Pensionary, and of the richest burgers in the Hague and Amsterdam.' 'Ouf! Well, I go to none of them--not even to Court, save once a year, to kiss the Prince's hand, and give in the Brigade Reports. She has a great retinue--keeps a stately coach and two sedans, I hear; and does this artful old--countess seem to tolerate the advances of a penniless sub like you, to her daughter?' 'Yes.'