Idsleigh, a fashionable young buck whom I now recalled having
once seen in the company of Lord March, had presented himself, a very
brief explanation on Falconer's part sufficed to enlist his services
as second; whereupon the captain desired affably that he might be
allowed to finish his letter, and Idsleigh and I retired to a
compartment at the farther end of the room. Idsleigh regarded me with
disdainful indifference, and conducted his side of the preliminaries
in a bored fashion, as if the affair were of even less consequence
than Falconer had pretended to consider it. He set me down as a
nobody, a person quite out of the pale of polite society, and one whom
it was proper to have done with in the shortest time, and with the
fewest words, possible. I was equally chary of speech, and it was
speedily settled that our principals should fight with small swords,
at sunrise, at a certain spot in Hyde Park; and Idsleigh undertook to
provide a surgeon. He then turned his back on me, and walked over to
Falconer, without the slightest civility of leave-taking.

I went first in a hackney-coach to Hyde Park, to ascertain exactly the
spot which Mr. Idsleigh had designated. Having done so, I returned to
Dean Street; and, in order that I might without suspicion accompany
Philip before daybreak, I called at Madge's lodgings, and suggested
that my mother and Fanny should pass the night in her house (in which
I had observed there were rooms to let) and take her to Hampstead the
next day; while I should sleep at the tavern. This plan was readily
adopted. Thereupon, rejoining Philip, I went with him to the Strand,
where he engaged a post-chaise to be in waiting for him and me the
next morning, for our flight in the event of the duel having the fatal
termination he desired.

"We'll take a hint from Captain Falconer's threat," said Phil: "ride
post to Hastings, and have the Doughty boys sail us across to France.
You'd best write a letter this evening, to leave at Madge's lodgings
after the affair, explaining your departure, to Fanny and your mother.
Afterward, you can either send for them to come to France, or you can
return to Hampstead when the matter blows over. I might have spared
you these inconveniences and risks, by getting another second; but I
knew you wouldn't stand that."

And there, indeed, he spoke the truth.

CHAPTER XXI.

_The Last, and Most Eventful, of the History._

I took my mother and Fanny to the play th