with a modest simper, "You makes me blush; though, indeed, bating that I
have the military air, and am more in the prime of life, your honour is
well nigh as awkward a gentleman as myself to come across."

"Much obliged for the compliment!" said Walter, pushing his horse a
little forward--the Corporal took the hint and fell back.

It was now that beautiful hour of twilight when lovers grow especially
tender. The young traveller every instant threw his dark eyes upward, and
thought--not of Madeline, but her sister. The Corporal himself grew
pensive, and in a few moments his whole soul was absorbed in
contemplating the forlorn state of the abandoned Jacobina.

In this melancholy and silent mood, they proceeded onward till the shades
began to deepen; and by the light of the first stars Walter beheld a
small, spare gentleman riding before him on an ambling nag, with cropped
ears and mane. The rider, as he now came up to him, seemed to have passed
the grand climacteric, but looked hale and vigorous; and there was a
certain air of staid and sober aristocracy about him, which involuntarily
begat your respect.

He looked hard at Walter as the latter approached, and still more hard at
the Corporal. He seemed satisfied with the survey.

"Sir," said he, slightly touching his hat to Walter, and with an
agreeable though rather sharp intonation of voice, "I am very glad to see
a gentleman of your appearance travelling my road. Might I request the
honour of being allowed to join you so far as you go? To say the truth, I
am a little afraid of encountering those industrious gentlemen who have
been lately somewhat notorious in these parts; and it may be better for