The father beckoned to the boy, who approached with alacrity.

"Gabriel," whispered the Frenchman, in his own tongue, "where are they at this moment ?" The boy pointed silently towards one of the cedars.

Dalibard mused an instant, and then, slowly descending the steps, took his noiseless way over the smooth turf towards the tree.

Its boughs drooped low and spread wide; and not till he was within a few paces of the spot could his eye perceive two forms seated on a bench under the dark green canopy.

He then paused and contemplated them.
The one was a young man whose simple dress and subdued air strongly contrasted the artificial graces and the modish languor of Mr.Vernon; but though wholly without that nameless distinction which sometimes characterizes those conscious of pure race and habituated to the atmosphere of courts, he had at least Nature's stamp of aristocracy in a form eminently noble, and features of manly, but surpassing beauty, which were not rendered less engaging by an expression of modest timidity.