ad, as if he
saw something interesting on the wall beyond.

"My dear admiral," said Mr. Chillingworth, "come away."

"I'll see you d----d first!" said the admiral. "Now, Mr. Vampyre, no
shuffling; did you address those observations to me?"

"Deborah," said Sir Francis Varney, in silvery tones, "you can remove
this tray and bring on the next."

"Not if I know it," said the admiral "I came to breakfast, and I'll have
it; after breakfast I'll pull your nose--ay, if you were fifty vampyres,
I'd do it."

"Dr. Chillingworth," said Varney, without paying the least attention to
what the admiral said, "you don't eat, my dear sir; you must be fatigued
with your night's exertions. A man of your age, you know, cannot be
supposed to roll and tumble about like a fool in a pantomime with
impunity. Only think what a calamity it would be if you were laid up.
Your patients would all get well, you know."

"Sir Francis Varney," said Mr. Chillingworth, "we're your guests; we
come here at your invitation to partake of a meal. You have wantonly
attacked both of us. I need not say that by so doing you cast a far
greater slur upon your own taste and judgment than you can upon us."

"Admirably spoken," said Sir Francis Varney, giving his bands a clap
together that made the admiral jump again. "Now, old Bell, I'll fight
you, if you think yourself aggrieved, while the doctor sees fair play."

"Old who?" shouted the admiral.

"Bell, Bell--is not your name Bell?--a family cognomen, I presume, on
account of the infernal clack, clack, without any sense in it, that is
the characteristic of your race."

"You'll fight me?" said the admiral, jumping up.

"Yes; if you challenge me."

"By Jove I do; of course"

"Then I accept it; and the challenged party, you know well, or ought to
know, can make his own terms in the encounter."

"Make what terms you please; I care not what they are. Only say you will
fight, and that's sufficient."

"It is well," said Sir Francis Varney, in a solemn tone.

"Nay, nay," interrupted Mr. Chillingworth; "this is boyish folly."

"Hold your row," said the admiral, "and let's hear what he's got to
say."

"In this mansion," said Sir Francis Varney--"for a mansion it is,
although under the unpretending name of a lodge--in this mansion there
is a large apartment which was originally fitted up by a scientific
proprietor of the place, for the purpose of microscopic and other
experiments, which required a darkness