_versus_ Stoker. I shall have to make out a case
of circumstantial evidence against the cat, or I'm safe for a rowing
from the governor. Good-bye, old boy! don't fancy I'm mad; I'm not
the fool I seem, though I confess appearances are against me just at
present. There's the coach, by Jingo, three bays and a grey--no chance
of the box--is this a hat? off we go." So saying, he shook my hand
warmly, bounded down the steps, and the next moment was rattling away
towards London as fast as four horses could hurry him.

It was with a heavy heart, and a foreboding of coming evil, that
I mounted my horse, and slowly retraced my way towards Heathfield.
Coleman's exuberant spirits, which, I believe, were partly assumed with
a view to cheer me by diverting my attention from the painful subject
which engrossed it, had produced an effect diametrically opposite to
that which he had intended, and I felt dissatisfied with the step I
had taken, doubtful of the success of his mission, anxious to a degree,
which was absolutely painful, about the fate of Harry, and altogether
thoroughly miserable. I reached home in time for dinner, during which
meal my abstracted manner and low spirits were so apparent as to set my
mother speculating on the chances of my having over-heated myself and
"got a chill," whilst Fanny's anxious questioning glances, to which I
was well aware I could furnish no satisfactory reply, produced in me a
degree of nervous excitement which was unbearable, and, the moment the
cloth was withdrawn, I left the room and rambled forth into the wildest
parts of the park. The quiet peaceful beauty of the scene, and the
refreshing coolness of the ~210~~evening air, had, in a great measure,
calmed the excitement under which I laboured, and I was turning my steps
towards the Hall when I met Oaklands and Archer, who, finding I was not
at the cottage, had come in search of me. Half an hour's conversation
served to render all my previous conjectures matters of certainty. The
challenge had been given and accepted, Wentworth was to be Wilford's
second, and he and his principal were staying at the inn at Carsley.

The spot chosen for the scene of action was a plot of grass-land
situated about half-way between Carsley and Heathfield, so as to be
equally accessible to both parties; the time appointed was five o'clock
the following morning. Archer was to act as Oaklands' second; everything
had been managed with the greatest caution, and they d