-a shameful return for all the kindness lavished on him by the
family of the girl he had abducted.

When his lordship sought Fitzgerald out, and charged him with his
infamy, he was met with open surprise and honest indignation. So far
from being the guilty man, Fitzgerald avowed the utmost disgust at the
deed, and declared that he would know no rest until the girl had been
restored to her parents, and the miscreant properly punished. And from
this time no one appeared to be more zealous in the search for the
runaway than her abductor.

For weeks all their efforts to trace the fugitive proved of no avail,
until one day a girl of the lower-classes called on Lady Kingsborough,
to whom she told the following strange tale. She was, she said, servant
at a boarding-house in Kennington, to which, some weeks earlier (in
fact, at the very time of the disappearance), a gentleman had brought a
young lady who answered to the advertised description of the missing
girl, especially in her profusion of beautiful hair, which fell below
the knees. The gentleman, she continued, often visited the girl.

"It must be my daughter!" exclaimed Lady Kingsborough. "But who is the
gentleman? Pray describe him as fully as you can." "He is tall and
handsome----" began the girl. At that moment the door opened, and in
walked Fitzgerald himself. "Why," exclaimed the servant, as with
startled eyes she looked at the intruder, "that's the very gentleman who
visits the lady!"

For once Fitzgerald's coolness deserted him. At the damning words he
turned and dashed out of the room, thus confirming the worst suspicions
against him. The rage and indignation of the injured family were
boundless. Such an outrage could only be wiped out with blood, and
within an hour Colonel King, elder brother of the wronged girl, called
on Fitzgerald, with Major Wood as second, struck him on the cheek, and
demanded a meeting on the following morning.

The next day at dawn the duellists met near the Magazine in Hyde Park,
Colonel King bringing with him his second and a surgeon. Fitzgerald came
alone. He had been unable to find a friend to accompany him. Even the
surgeon, when requested, point blank refused to undertake the
dishonourable office of second to such a miscreant. The combatants were
placed ten yards apart, and, at the signal, two shots rang out. Neither
man was touched. Again and again shots were exchanged, and both men
remained uninjured.

After the fourth ineff