ave accomplished your object."

"Go on, sir," said Sir Francis Varney, in a bland and sweet tone; "I am
all attention; pray proceed."

"You have failed; for I now here, on this spot, defy you to mortal
combat. Coward, assassin as you are, I challenge you to fight."

"You don't mean on the carpet here?" said Varney, deliberately.

"No, sir; but beneath the canopy of heaven, in the light of the day. And
then, Sir Francis, we shall see who will shrink from the conflict."

"It is remarkably good, Mr. Bannerworth, and, begging your pardon, for I
do not wish to give any offence, my honoured sir, it would rehearse
before an audience; in short, sir, it is highly dramatic."

"You shrink from the combat, do you? Now, indeed, I know you."

"Young man--young man," said Sir Francis, calmly, and shaking his head
very deliberately, and the shadows passed across his pale face, "you
know me not, if you think Sir Francis Varney shrinks from any man, much
less one like yourself."

"You are a coward, and worse, if you refuse my challenge."

"I do not refuse it; I accept it," said Varney, calmly, and in a
dignified manner; and then, with a sneer, he added,--"You are well
acquainted with the mode in which gentlemen generally manage these
matters, Mr. Bannerworth, and perhaps I am somewhat confined in my
knowledge in the ways of the world, because you are your own principal
and second. In all my experience, I never met with a similar case."

"The circumstances under which it is given are as unexampled, and will
excuse the mode of the challenge," said Henry, with much warmth.

"Singular coincidence--the challenge and mode of it is most singular!
They are well matched in that respect. Singular, did I say? The more I
think of it, Mr. Bannerworth, the more I am inclined to think this
positively odd."

"Early to-morrow, Sir Francis, you shall hear from me."

"In that case, you will not arrange preliminaries now? Well, well; it is
very unusual for the principals themselves to do so; and yet, excuse my
freedom, I presumed, as you had so far deserted the beaten track, that I
had no idea how far you might be disposed to lead the same route."

"I have said all I intended to say, Sir Francis Varney; we shall see
each other again."

"I may not detain you, I presume, to taste aught in the way of
refreshment?"

Henry made no reply, but turned towards the door, without even making an
attempt to return the grave and formal bow that Sir Fran