It was a quietly beautiful scene at this hour, the glow of the sun over all.

We could distinguish gangs of slaves toiling in the fields, and a group of warriors, their spears glistening, clustered together before the gloomy altar-house.

Yet my eyes barely rested upon either scene, for there, close beside the open door of the Queen's dwelling, my glance, sharpened by love, perceived the movements of a woman's apparel, and from the faint color of it, distinguishable, even at that distance in the sun glare, I knew I looked once more upon Eloise.

It would be difficult to express in prosaic English with what intense relief I realized, through the evidence of my own eyes, her continued safety.

It seemed years already since our last parting, when she had chosen to remain prisoner in those savage hands.