given, I remember very little more. But you, where have you been? How have
we not met before?"

"I've exchanged into a heavy dragoon regiment, and am now employed upon the
staff."

"You are aware that I have letters for you?"

"Power hinted, I think, something of the kind. I saw him very hurriedly."

These words were spoken with an effort at _nonchalance_ that evidently cost
him much.

As for me, my agitation was scarcely less, as fumbling for some seconds in
my portmanteau, I drew forth the long destined packet. As I placed it in
his hands, he grew deadly pale, and a slight spasmodic twitch in his upper
lip bespoke some unnatural struggle. He broke the seal suddenly, and as he
did so, the morocco case of a miniature fell upon the ground; his eyes ran
rapidly across the letter; the livid color of his lips as the blood forced
itself to them added to the corpse-like hue of his countenance.

"You, probably, are aware of the contents of this letter, Mr. O'Malley,"
said he, in an altered voice, whose tones, half in anger, half in
suppressed irony, cut to my very heart.

"I am in complete ignorance of them," said I, calmly.

"Indeed, sir!" replied he, with a sarcastic curl of his mouth as he spoke.
"Then, perhaps, you will tell me, too, that your very success is a secret
to you--"

"I'm really not aware--"

"You think, probably, sir, that the pastime is an amusing one, to interfere
where the affections of others are concerned. I've heard of you, sir. Your
conduct at Lisbon is known to me; and though Captain Trevyllian may bear--"

"Stop, Captain Hammersley!" said I, with a tremendous effort to be
calm,--"stop! You have said enough, quite enough, to convince me of what
your object was in seeking me here to-day. You shall not be disappointed. I
trust that assurance will save you from any further display of temper."

"I thank you, most humbly I thank you for the quickness of your
apprehension; and I shall now take my leave. Good-evening, Mr. O'Malley. I
wish you much joy; you have my very fullest congratulations upon _all_ your
good fortune."

The sneering emphasis the last words were spoken with remained fixed in my
mind long after he took his departure; and, indeed, so completely did the
whole seem like a dream to me that were it not for the fragments of the
miniature that lay upon the ground where he had crushed them with his heel,
I could scarcely credit myself that I was awake.

My first impulse was to seek