from me; but the truth is he only
made a tour up the Rhine, fell in with the daughter of a clergyman,
and married her. She has made him a happy man, and he is now the
father of a family; nevertheless, all his relations bear me the most
intense hatred, and lose no opportunity of serving me a malicious
turn. I still held my foil in my hand when Lord William entered the
room. His look was sufficient to show me his disapprobation.

"'If your father had taken my advice, Francis,' he said, 'he would
have waited some little time before informing you of the intentions of
Felters; still there was no reason for your acting in this way. For
shame to treat a poor fellow, who perhaps never had a foil in his
hand before, in such a manner. But, well! I have always hesitated
about putting you to the test; permit me now, however, to take the
place of the miserable fugitive.'

"And without waiting for an answer he picked up Felters' foil,
and cried--

"'En garde!'

"I literally did not know what I was doing. I would not decline
his challenge, and I determined to show him that he was not fencing
with an inexperienced girl. He handled his foil with a lightness and
firmness of hand I had little expected to find in a man of letters,
confining himself, however, to parrying my attacks only; and yet this
he did so skilfully that I was unable to touch him. I exhausted myself
in my desperate efforts, but I would not ask for quarter.

"'You see such exercise requires more than the arm of a woman,'
he said coolly.

"My wild despair and anger seemed to give me strength, and falling
in upon him I broke my foil upon his breast. He, with a smile, had
neglected to parry this attack, and I saw a thin stream of blood
trickle down his shirt-front. Now I was overwhelmed with sorrow and
repentance. Sir John and grandfather immediately came upon the scene.

"'It is nothing, gentlemen,' he said to them, 'only a scratch;
a little satisfaction which I owed to Miss Francis, and which will
perhaps cure her of her taste for such unladylike weapons.'

"'I will never, never more touch them,' I cried in terror when I saw
his pocket-handkerchief, which he had applied to the wound, saturated
with blood.

"And I have kept my word, though it has not prevented my obtaining
a wide reputation as a duellist. Neither Charles Felters nor the
servant of Lord William could hold their tongues, though the latter
had been forbidden by his master to say a word on the sub