'Pray, gentlemen, be less violent,' exclaimed the terrified and astonished Adeline. 'I can't think what could offend you, Mr Glenmurray, in Sir Patrick's original observation: the life of honour appears to me a very excellent name for the pure and honourable union which it is my wish to form; and--' 'There; I told you so;' triumphantly interrupted Sir Patrick: 'and I never was better pleased in life:--sweet creature! at once so lovely, so wise, and so liberal!' 'Sir,' cried Glenmurray, 'this is a mistake: your life of honour and Miss Mowbray's are as different as possible; you are talking of what you are grossly ignorant of.' 'Ignorant! I ignorant! Look you, Mr Glenmurray, do you pretend to tell me I know not what the life of honour is, when I have led it so many times with so many different women?' 'How, Sir!' replied Adeline: 'many times? and with many different women? My life of honour can be led with one only.' 'Well, my dear soul, I only led it with one at a time.' 'O Sir! you are indeed ignorant of my meaning,' she rejoined: 'It is the individuality of an attachment that constitutes its purity; and--' 'Ba-ba-bu, my lovely girl! which has purity to do in the business?' 'Indeed, Sir Patrick,' meekly returned Adeline, 'I--' 'Miss Mowbray,' angrily interrupted Glenmurray, 'I beg, I conjure you to drop this conversation: your innocence is no match for--' 'For what, Sir?' furiously demanded Sir Patrick. 'Your licentiousness,' replied Glenmurray. 'Sir, I wear a sword,' cried the baronet.--'And I a cane,' said Glenmurray calmly, 'either to defend myself or chastise insolence.' 'Mr Glenmurray! Sir Patrick!' exclaimed the agitated Adeline: 'for my sake, for pity's sake desist!' 'For the present I will, madam,' faltered out Sir Patrick;--'but I know Mr Glenmurray's address, and he shall hear from me.' 'Hear from you! Why, you do not mean to challenge him? you can't suppose Mr Glenmurray would do so absurd a thing as fight a duel? Sir, he has written a volume to prove the absurdity of the custom.--No, no! you threaten his life in vain,' she added, giving her hand to Glenmurray; who, in the tenderness of the action and the tone of her voice, forgot the displeasure which her inadvertency had caused, and pressing her hand to his lips, secretly renewed his vows of unalterable attachment. 'Very well, madam,' exclaimed Sir Patrick in a tone of pique: 'then, so as Mr Glenmurray's life is safe, you care not what becomes of mine!' 'Sir,' replied Adeline, 'the safety of a fellow-creature is always of importance in my eyes.' 'Then you care for me as a fellow-creature only,' retorted Sir Patrick, 'not as Sir Patrick O'Carrol?--Mighty fine, truly, you dear ungrateful--' seizing her hand; which he relinquished, as well as the rest of his speech, on the entrance of Mrs Mowbray.