ner had changed; his levity had suddenly given
place to a gravity most unusual to him, and instead of his wonted
jollity his face wore an expression of the greatest seriousness.
He, after a casual glance at Lawrence, suddenly insisted that it was
necessary to exchange a cartel, and opening his secretary, with much
pomp proceeded to write. "You see--if things were not regular it would
be butchery," he explained, considerately, to Lawrence, who winced
slightly at the word. "I don't want to see you murder each other,"
he went on in a slow comment as he wrote, "I wish you, since you are
determined to shoot--each other--to do it like--gentlemen." He took a
new sheet. Suddenly he began to shout,--

"George--George Washington." There was no answer, so as he wrote on he
continued to shout at intervals, "George Washington!"

After a sufficient period had elapsed for a servant crossing the yard
to call to another, who sent a third to summon George, and for that
functionary to take a hasty potation from a decanter as he passed
through the dining-room at his usual stately pace, he appeared at the
door.

"Did you call, suh?" he inquired, with that additional dignity which
bespoke his recourse to the sideboard as intelligibly as if he had
brought the decanters in his hand. "Did I call!" cried the Major,
without looking up. "Why don't you come when you hear me?"

George Washington steadied himself on his feet, and assumed an aggrieved
expression.

"Do you suppose I can wait for you to drink all the whiskey in my
sideboard? Are you getting deaf-drunk as well as blind-drunk?" he asked,
still writing industriously.

George Washington gazed up at his old master in the picture on the wall,
and shook his head sadly.

"Nor, suh, Marse Nat. You know I ain' drink none to git drunk. I is a
member o' de church. I is full of de sperit."

The Major, as he blotted his paper, assured him that he knew he was
much fuller of it than were his decanters, and George Washington was
protesting further, when his master rose, and addressing Jeff as the
challenger, began to read. He had prepared a formal cartel, and all
the subsequent and consequential documents which appear necessary to a
well-conducted and duly bloodthirsty meeting under the duello, and
he read them with an impressiveness which was only equalled by the
portentious dignity of George Washington. As he stood balancing himself,
and took in the solemn significance of the matter, his who