But Mark van Rycke was no longer nigh.
IV
Then suddenly her face lit up with joy, the colour rushed to her cheeks, and her lips parted in a smile.
She had just espied in the brilliant throng, one no less brilliant figure which was slowly pushing its way through the crowd in her direction.
"Ramon," she whispered, as soon as the young man was quite close to her, "I didn't know you were here."
"His Highness," he replied, "has given me command of the garrison here; I arrived last night with my regiment."
"But where are your lodgings?"
"At the house of those thrice accursed van Ryckes," he muttered with an oath. "The billeting was arranged without my knowledge, and of course I and my men leave those quarters to-morrow. Every morsel I eat in that house seems to choke me."
"Poor Ramon!" she whispered with tender pity. "I too have been unutterably wretched since I saw you in Brussels."
"I couldn't communicate with you again, sweetheart--and this to my great grief--but I was bundled out of Brussels like a bale of goods, and here I am! Imagine my joy when I realised that I should see you to-night."