eyes had never seen before; the woman he waited for was perfect, too, a
revelation. She and the dawn filled his soul. They were more real than
anything past, present, or to come, and his being sang a Te Deum of
thanksgiving.

"She should be here," he said, turning to Seth and speaking in a hushed
voice without knowing that he did so.

Seth laid his hand sharply upon his arm, and pointed through the trees
to the road which came down to the plain from Beauvais. Four men were
approaching, walking quickly and talking together. They came straight
towards the end of the wood as men having a purpose.

"Quick! The horses!" said Barrington. "Draw back farther into the wood
and let them pass."

Holding their horses, and hidden among the trees, they watched the men
come to the spot where they had been a moment or two before. Here they
stopped, looked round on every side and listened.

"They are looking for us," Seth whispered. "It may be the lady cannot
come and has sent them to tell us so."

"Four of them!" Barrington said.

He did not move. These men were not lackeys, they were gentlemen.
Barrington wondered whether they had chosen this secluded spot to settle
some private quarrel of last night's making.

"Scented danger and gone," said one.