Many years ago, three young gentlemen were lingering over their fruit
and wine at a tavern, when a man of middle age entered the room,
seated himself at a small unoccupied table, and calling the waiter,
ordered a simple meal. His appearance was not such as to arrest
attention. His hair was thin and grey; the expression of his
countenance was sedate, with a slight touch, perhaps, of melancholy;
and he wore a grey surtout with a standing collar, which manifestly
had seen service, if the wearer had not.
The stranger continued his meal in silence, without lifting his eyes
from the table, until a cherry-stone, sportively snapped from the
thumb and finger of one of the gentlemen, struck him upon his right
ear. His eye was instantly upon the aggressor, and his ready
intelligence gathered from the ill-suppressed merriment of the party
that this petty impertinence was intentional.
The stranger stooped, and picked up the cherry-stone, and a scarcely
perceptible smile passed over his features as he carefully wrapped it
in a piece of paper, and placed it in his pocket. This singular
procedure upset the gravity of the young gentlemen entirely, and a
burst of laughter proceeded from the group.
Unmoved by this rudeness, the stranger continued his frugal repast
until another cherry-stone, from the same hand, struck him upon the
right elbow. This also, to the infinite amusement of the party, he
picked from the floor, and carefully deposited with the first.
Amidst shouts of laughter, a third cherry-stone was soon after
discharged, and struck the stranger upon the left breast. This also
he very deliberately deposited with the other two.
As he rose, and was engaged in paying for his repast, the gaiety of
these sporting gentlemen became slightly subdued. Having discharged
his reckoning, he walked to the table at which the young men were
sitting, and with that air of dignified calmness which is a thousand
times more terrible than wrath, drew a card from his pocket, and
presented it with perfect civility to the offender, who could do no
other than offer his in return. While the stranger unclosed his
surtout, to take the card from his pocket, he displayed the undress
coat of a military man. The card disclosed his rank, and a brief
inquiry at the bar was sufficient for the rest. He was a captain whom
ill-health and long service had entitled to half-pay. In earlier life
he had been engaged in several affairs of honour, and, in the dialect
of the fancy, was a dead shot.
The next morning a note arrived at the aggressor's residence,
containing a challenge, in form, and one of the cherry-stones. The
truth then flashed before the challenged party--it was the
challenger's intention to make three bites at this cherry--three
separate affairs out of this unwarrantable frolic! The challenge was
accepted, and the challenged party, in deference to the challenger's
reputed skill with the pistol, had half decided upon the small sword;
but his friends, who were on the alert, soon discovered that the
captain, who had risen by his merit, had, in the earlier days of his
necessity, gained his bread as an accomplished instructor in the use
of that weapon.
They met, and fired alternately, by lot--the young man had selected
this mode, thinking he might win the first fire--he did--fired, and
missed his opponent. The captain levelled his pistol and fired--the
ball passed through the flap of the right ear; and, as the wounded
man involuntarily put his hand to the place, he remembered that it
was the right ear of his antagonist that the first cherry-stone had
struck. Here ended the first lesson. A month passed. His friends
cherished the hope that he would hear nothing more from the captain,
when another note--a challenge, of course--and another cherry-stone
arrived, with an apology, on the score of ill-health, for delay.
Again they met--fired simultaneously, and the captain, who was
unhurt, shattered the right elbow of his antagonist--the very point
upon which he had been struck with the second cherry-stone; and here
ended the second lesson. There was something awfully impressive in
the _modus operandi_ and exquisite skill of his antagonist. The third
cherry-stone was still in his possession, and the aggressor had not
forgotten that it had struck the unoffending gentleman upon the left
breast. A month passed--another--and another, of terrible suspense;
but nothing was heard from the captain.
At length, the gentleman who had been his second in the former duels
once more presented himself, and tendered another note, which, as the
recipient perceived on taking it, contained the last of the
cherry-stones. The note was superscribed in the captain's well-known
hand, but it was the writing evidently of one who wrote feebly. There
was an unusual solemnity also in the manner of him who delivered it.
The seal was broken, and there was the cherry-stone in a blank
envelope.
"And what, sir, am I to understand by this?" inquired the aggressor.
"You will understand, sir, that my friend forgives you--he is dead."