f
my gear, saying that he should step out that moment for an officer and
give me up to the just revenge of the law.

During the first part of his speech, the thought of the imprudence of
which I had been guilty, and the predicament in which I was plunged, had
so puzzled and confounded me, that I had not uttered a word in reply to
the fellow's abuse, but had stood quite dumb before him. The sense of
danger, however, at once roused me to action. 'Hark ye, Mr. Fitzsimons,'
said I; 'I will tell you why I was obliged to alter my name: which is
Barry, and the best name in Ireland. I changed it, sir, because, on
the day before I came to Dublin, I killed a man in deadly combat--an
Englishman, sir, and a captain in His Majesty's service; and if you
offer to let or hinder me in the slightest way, the same arm which
destroyed him is ready to punish you; and by Heaven, sir, you or I don't
leave this room alive!'

So saying, I drew my sword like lightning, and giving a 'ha! ha!' and
a stamp with my foot, lunged within an inch of Fitzsimons's heart, who
started back and turned deadly pale, while his wife, with a scream,
flung herself between us.

'Dearest Redmond,' she cried, 'be pacified. Fitzsimons, you don't want
the poor child's blood. Let him escape--in Heaven's name let him go.'

'He may go hang for me,' said Fitzsimons sulkily; 'and he'd better be
off quickly, too, for the jeweller and the tailor have called once,
and will be here again before long. It was Moses the pawnbroker that
peached: I had the news from him myself.' By which I conclude that Mr.
Fitzsimons had been with the new laced frock-coat which he procured from
the merchant tailor on the day when the latter first gave me credit.

What was the end of our conversation? Where was now a home for the
descendant of the Barrys? Home was shut to me by my misfortune in the
duel. I was expelled from Dublin by a persecution occasioned, I must
confess, by my own imprudence. I had no time to wait and choose: no
place of refuge to fly to. Fitzsimons, after his abuse of me, left the
room growling, but not hostile; his wife insisted that we should shake
hands, and he promised not to molest me. Indeed, I owed the fellow
nothing; and, on the contrary, had his acceptance actually in my pocket
for money lost at play. As for my friend Mrs. Fitzsimons, she sat down
on the bed and fairly burst out crying. She had her faults, but her
heart was kind; and though she possessed but three