The Master of the Ceremonies
Page 37
don't talk of my love affair.We shall never agree till the scales of prejudice have dropped from youreyes."
"Till the scales of a boyish folly have dropped from yours, Dick. Well,we shall be in accord some day. If I'm wrong I'll humbly ask yourpardon."
"And if I'm wrong I will yours," cried Richard. "Now, then, what ofPayne's visit?"
"You will have to meet the Major," said the Colonel gravely.
"Yes, I suppose so. He could not forgive such an insult as that."
"You treat it very lightly, Dick. The consequences may be very grave."
"I hope not," said Richard. "I am not a soldier, but I am not going toshow the white feather, even if I wear it in my heart."
"Not you," said the Colonel, as he tapped his companion on the shoulder."But I should have liked you to be fighting on account of some otherlady."
"And I should not," cried Richard. "Is this likely to be serious?"
"I should be no true friend to you, my lad, if I concealed the truthfrom you. It may be very serious."
"For me?"
"I don't say that."
"But I never fired a pistol in my life, and I fence horribly."
"It will be pistols, Dick. I arranged that it should be. But you willbe cool?"
"I hope I shall be just as I am now," said Richard calmly.
The Colonel looked at him intently, but no nerve showed a tremor.
"A good walk will do you good," he said, and after telling him thepreliminaries, and the place where they were to meet, the conversationwas changed and they walked slowly on till the edge of the Downs wasreached, and they soon after entered an extensive wood, walking down aleafy glade where all seemed wonderfully peaceful, and its solemnity wasso soothing to Richard Linnell that he was about to throw himself uponthe turf when Colonel Mellersh stopped short, and pointing to a gnarledbeech of stunted growth, exclaimed:
"That will do exactly."
"Do?" said Linnell. "Do for what?"
"Why, my dear boy, do you suppose I have brought you out here fornothing? No; since the abominable code for furbishing up injured honourexists, and a man may be called out, it is our duty to prepare foremergencies. You cannot use a pistol?"
"No," said Richard, shaking his head.
"I can. I have been out six times, and I'm going to show you how to hityour man and save yourself."
"I don't want to hit Major Rockley."
"But I want you to hit him and save yourself. My dear boy, you areworth five thousand Major Rockleys to your father, and we must not haveyou hurt."
As he spoke, to Richard's great surprise, he took out a brace ofduelling pistols with flask and bullets, and after loading skilfully hetook a few cards from his breast, and going to the stunted tree, tackedone on each of two boughs about on a level with a man's outstretchedarms, another on the trunk, and another higher still, where the headwould be.
"I used to practise with the pistol a great deal at one time, Dick, andI could hit either of those address cards as many times as I liked."
"Then I will not quarrel with you and call you out."
"Don't," said the Colonel, handing him a pistol, and proceeding to stepout fifteen paces. "There," he said, "stand there and aim at that cardon the trunk. That is where a man's heart would be. I will countslowly, and when I come to three, raise your pistol quickly and fire."
"One--two--_three_!"
Richard Linnell raised his pistol, and drew the trigger, but there wasno report.
"It will not go off," he said.
"No," replied the Colonel; "pistols never will, unless you cock them."
"Pish!" ejaculated Richard, repairing the omission. "Again."
The Colonel counted once more; there was a flash, a sharp report, and aleaf or two fell from high up a tree to the right of the target.
"Take the other," said the Colonel quietly; "hold it a little morefirmly, and raise it slowly. The moment your eye glances straight alongthe barrel, press the trigger softly, so as not to jerk the pistol.Ready? Now--one--two--_three_!"
There was another sharp report, and the Colonel smiled.
"That's better," he said. "Your first bullet went over the enemy's headtwenty feet or so. That one would have him in the shoulder. Tryagain."
The Colonel busied himself loading the pistols with all the quickness ofan adept as his pupil fired, keeping him at it for quite a couple ofhours, with intervals of rest. Now he made him fire at one card, thenat another, practising as at his adversary's arms, head, and body, tillRichard looked at him wearily.
"Yes; that will do now," said Colonel Mellersh. "You may congratulateyourself, Dick, upon being a horribly bad shot; but you will be able tohandle your pistol properly, and raise it like a man who is used to theweapon."
"What is the use of that," said Richard, smiling, "if I cannot aimstraight?"
"A great deal. If you had taken hold of your pistol in a bungling wayto-morrow, Rockley would have felt that he had you at his mercy, and hewould have been as cool as a fish. Now he will see that you know what apistol is, and be perfectly ignorant of the fact that you are unskilfulof aim. He will think he has a dangerous adversary before him, and bemore likely nervous than cool."
"I see," said Richard, with his eyes lighting up. "I've had my turn atthe scoundrel, and I'm satisfied. Of course I don't want to hit him,but at the same time I don't want him to hit me."
"Oh!" said the Colonel drily, "I thought you did."
"What! want him to hit me! Why?"
"You seemed so cool over it."
"Oh, but I'm not," said Richard gravely. "I suppose a good shot wouldhit one of those cards?"
"Time was, Dick, when I could have put half a dozen shots in either ofthem. I don't know that I could hit one now."
He raised the pistol he had been loading as he spoke, took a quick aim,and hit the centre card just on the edge, driving it into the bark ofthe tree.
"Bad!" he said. "Let's try another."
He aimed at the card representing the enemy's right arm fired, andstruck it also about a quarter of an inch from the edge.
"Out of practice, Dick," he said, thrusting the pistols into their darkcloth bags, and replacing them in his pocket. "There, my lad, let's gethome. Dine lightly this evening, go to bed in good time, and have along night's rest."
"When is the meeting?" said Richard calmly.
"At six to-morrow morning."
"Where did you say?"
"On the sands, two miles out below the east cliff."
"Why there?"
"We shall want an excuse for going out so early, my lad. We can begoing to bathe, and so be unnoticed, and there will be no fear of aninterruption," said the Colonel grimly. "This is to be no play affair,Dick. An officer in His Majesty's service cannot submit to ahorse-whipping from a civilian without trying to get amplesatisfaction."
He looked at Richard with a grave air of pity in his countenance.
"Did you ever shoot a man?" said Richard, as they were walking brisklyback.
"Do you mean wounded or killed?"
"The latter."
"Once, Dick."
The young man's countenance contracted, and he looked at his companionalmost in horror.
"Yes," said the Colonel; "it is horrible, Dick, and the remembrance thatthe man was an utter scoundrel does not make the fact much less horribleafter all these years."
They walked on for some distance in silence, before Richard Linnellbroke in upon his companion's reverie.
"Was the duel about--a lady?"
The Colonel uttered a harsh laugh.
"It's an arrangement of nature, my dear Ulysses," he said. "If you seea couple of stags smashing their antlers, a couple of bulls goring eachother, or two rams battering one another's heads, a brace of pheasantsor barn-door cocks pecking and spurring each other to death, what's itabout? A lady. The same with mankind, Dick; a duel is almostinvariably more or less directly about a lady."
Richard Linnell went on thoughtfu
lly for a time, and then turned with asad smile to the Colonel.
"So even you had to do battle once in such a cause?"
"Not exactly, Dick; it was upon another's behalf. An utter scoundrel,just such a fellow as Rockley, did my best friend a mortal wrong. Oneday, Dick, it was a happy, peaceful home that I used to visit, where assweet-natured, true, and gentle a man as ever breathed lived in happytrust and faith in his sweet young wife; the