n best
answer their calumny. It never shall be said that my husband ever turned
his back upon a friend in the moment of his adversity, because the
position was changed,--because his friend was poor, and he was rich."
This was the first intimation to the public that Jack had lost money,
although it was known generally that the Deckers had lately bought some
valuable property in San Francisco.

A few evenings after this, an incident occurred which seemed to
unpleasantly discord with the general social harmony that had always
existed at San Isabel. It was at dinner; and Mr. Oakhurst and Mr.
Hamilton, who sat together at a separate table, were observed to rise
in some agitation. When they reached the hall, by a common instinct they
stepped into a little breakfast-room which was vacant, and closed the
door. Then Mr. Hamilton turned with a half-amused, half-serious smile
toward his friend, and said,--

"If we are to quarrel, Jack Oakhurst,--you and I,--in the name of all
that is ridiculous, don't let it be about a"--

I do not know what was the epithet intended. It was either unspoken
or lost; for at that very instant Mr. Oakhurst raised a wineglass, and
dashed its contents into Hamilton's face.

As they faced each other, the men seemed to have changed natures.
Mr. Oakhurst was trembling with excitement, and the wineglass that he
returned to the table shivered between his fingers. Mr. Hamilton stood
there, grayish white, erect, and dripping. After a pause, he said
coldly,--

"So be it. But remember, our quarrel commences here. If I fall by your
hand, you shall not use it to clear her character: if you fall by mine,
you shall not be called a martyr. I am sorry it has come to this; but
amen, the sooner now, the better."

He turned proudly, dropped his lids over cold steel-blue eyes, as if
sheathing a rapier bowed, and passed coldly out.

They met, twelve hours later, in a little hollow two miles from the
hotel, on the Stockton road. As Mr. Oakhurst received his pistol from
Col. Starbottle's hands, he said to him in a low voice, "Whatever
turns up or down, I shall not return to the hotel. You will find some
directions in my room. Go there"--But his voice suddenly faltered,
and he turned his glistening eyes away, to his second's intense
astonishment. "I've been out a dozen times with Jack Oakhurst," said
Col. Starbottle afterward, "and I never saw him anyways cut before.
Blank me if I didn't think he was losing his sand,