"He!--fairly caught, by Jupiter! whither away?" said Sir
Stratford Manvers. "Thou'st sprung fair game i' the forest,
'faith--I watched her retreat--a step like a roebuck--a form
like a Venus"----
"Unhand me, villain, or in an instant my sword shall drink the
blood of thy cowardly heart."
"Fair words! thou'st been studying the rantipoles of Will
Shakspeare, Hal. What is't, man? Is thy bile at boiling heat
because I have lit upon thee billing and cooing with the
forester's fair niece--poh! man--there be brighter eyes than
hers, however bright they be."
"Now then, we have met," said Lawleigh, in a voice of condensed
passion--"met where none shall hear us--met where none shall
see us--met where none shall part us--Ha! dost thou look on me
without a blush--the man you have injured--the friend who
trusted--the enemy who will slay?--draw!"
"This is sheer midsummer madness--put up thy toasting-fork,
Hal. This is no time nor place for imitations of Ben Jonson's
Bobadil. Zounds! man, you'll startle all the game with your
roaring--and wherefore is all the disturbance?"
"'Tis that you have traduced me, and injured me in the eyes of
one, for a smile of whose lip thou well knowest I would lay
down my life--for a touch of whose hand thou well knowest I
would sell me to the Evil One--thou hast blackened me, and I
will be avenged--ho! chicken-hearted boaster before women, and
black-hearted traitor among men, will nothing rouse thee? Hear
this, then--thou hast lied."
"Thou mean'st it?" said Sir Stratford, and drew back a step or
two.
"I do--art thou man enough to cross points on that
provocation?"
"Oh, on far less, as thou well knowest, in the way of
accommodating a young gentleman anxious to essay a feat of
arms. Thou hast said the word, and we fight--but let me ask to
what particular achievement of mine thou hast attached so ugly
an epithet. I would fain know to what I am indebted for your
good opinion so gallantly expressed."
"I will but name two names--and between them thou wilt find how
dastardly thy conduct has been."
"Make it three--'twere pity to balk the Graces of their
numbers; add the young lady who so lately left thee. The
forester's fair daughter deserves a niche as well as a duke's
daughter."
"The names I mention," said Lawleigh, "are Lady Alice
Lorrington, and Lady Mary Rosley."
Sir Stratford lifted his cap. "Fair ladies," he said, "I greet
you well; that I have sunned me in the bright blue eyes of one,
and the dark lustrous glances of the other, is true--yet, 'tis
but acting in love as people are justified in doing in other
things. When health begins to fail, physicians recommend a
change of climate--when admiration begins to decay, I always
adopt a different style of beauty; when the cold climate is too
severe, I fly to the sunny plains of Italy--when Lady Alice
frowns, I go to bask in the smiles of Lady Mary."
"And are a villain, a calumniator, and boaster in all--defend
thyself."
"As best I may," replied Sir Stratford, and drew his sword. It
was easy for him to parry the rapid thrusts of his enraged
adversary--and warily and slowly he was beginning the offensive
in his turn, when a sudden flash was seen, a loud report took
place, and the baronet was stretched upon the ground, weltering
in his blood. Rapid steps ere heard retreating in the direction
of the thicket in the park, and Lawleigh hurried to the paling,
and saw the form of a tall man, in a dark velvet coat,
disappear over the hedge."
["How good that is!" said Jack Stuart, as I came to the end of the
chapter, and laid down the volume. "How good that is! Did you perceive
where the joining took place?"
"No--I saw no joining."
"Why, you stupid fellow, didn't you see that the first part was from a
novel of the present day, and the other from a story of the
rebellion--who the deuce do you think talks of _thees_ and _thous_
except the Quaker?"
"I didn't notice it, I confess."
"Glad to hear it; nobody else will; and in the next chapter, which is
the seventeenth of the second volume of this romance, you will see how
closely the story fits. Recollect to change the names as I have marked
them in pencil, and go on.]