rothers that he intended to act as became a man of honor,
and wrote to Mary with something of his old affection, revived by remorse;
excusing his past silence, begging forgiveness, and promising to go down
to see her, the instant he could obtain leave of absence.

Under the influence of this letter Mary revived; but the impression made
upon her future husband soon passed away--he daily felt less inclination to
perform his promise. He was living in the midst of fashionable society,
and was more courted than ever, since by the death of his father he had
come into possession of his fortune. He began to feel that he had
decidedly thrown himself away; and by a most unnatural transition, he
hated Mary for her claims upon him and considered himself a very ill-used
victim.

Mary's brothers, finding that Colonel Pollexfen did not follow his letter,
nor show any signs of fulfilling his engagement, would not submit to any
more trifling. The elder made a journey to London, and demanded
satisfaction, with the intimation that the younger brother would claim the
same right when the first affair was terminated.

Colonel Pollexfen was not, of course, afraid of having even two duels on
his hands at once; he had already proved his courage too well to allow a
suspicion of that sort. His answer was characteristic. He told young
Chambellan that he was quite ready to meet both him and his brother, but
that he was under a previous engagement to marry their sister, which he
wished to perform first, as otherwise circumstances might occur to prevent
it; he should then be quite at their service, as it was his intention to
quit his bride at the church-door, and never to see her again!

The brothers, looking upon this as a pretext to evade the marriage
altogether, resolved, after some deliberation, to accept his proposal.
They had great difficulty in prevailing upon their sister to agree to
their wishes; but they none of them seriously believed that he would carry
out his threat, and Mary fancied that all danger of a duel would be
evaded. A very liberal settlement was drawn up by Colonel Pollexfen's
direction, which he signed, and sent down to the bride's family. On the
day appointed, Mary and her brothers repaired to the church; a traveling
chariot and four horses stood at the door. On entering, they found Colonel
Pollexfen pointing out to a friend who accompanied him the monuments
belonging to the Chambellan family. As soon as he perceived them