Cecil dramatized the fun to amuse Mr. Culbrett. Apparently Beauchamp had been staggered on hearing himself asked for the definite article he claimed. He had made a point of speaking of _the_ Apology. Lord Avonley did likewise. And each professed to exact it for a deeply aggrieved person: each put it on the ground that it involved the other’s rightful ownership of the title of gentleman. ‘“An apology to the amiable and virtuous Mistress Culling?’ says old Nevil: ‘an apology? what for?’—‘For unbecoming and insolent behaviour,’ says my lord.” “I am that lady’s friend,” Stukely warned Captain Baskelett. “Don’t let us have a third apology in the field.” “Perfectly true; you are her friend, and you know what a friend of mine she is,” rejoined Cecil. “I could swear ‘that lady’ flings the whole affair at me. I give you my word, old Nevil and I were on a capital footing before he and the baron broke up. I praised him for tickling the aristocracy. I backed him heartily; I do now; I’ll do it in Parliament. I know a case of a noble lord, a General in the army, and he received an intimation that he might as well attend the Prussian cavalry manœuvres last Autumn on the Lower Rhine or in Silesia—no matter where. He couldn’t go: he was engaged to shoot birds! I give you my word. Now there I see old Nevil’s right. It’s as well we should know something about the Prussian and Austrian cavalry, and if our aristocracy won’t go abroad to study cavalry, who is to? no class in the kingdom understands horses as they do. My opinion is, they’re asleep. Nevil should have stuck to that, instead of trying to galvanize the country and turning against his class. But fancy old Nevil asked for the Apology! It petrified him. ‘I’ve told her nothing but the truth,’ says Nevil. ‘Telling the truth to women is an impertinence,’ says my lord. Nevil swore he’d have a revolution in the country before he apologized.” Mr. Culbrett smiled at the absurdity of the change of positions between Beauchamp and his uncle Everard, which reminded him somewhat of the old story of the highwayman innkeeper and the market farmer who had been thoughtful enough to recharge his pistols after quitting the inn at midnight. A practical “tu quoque” is astonishingly laughable, and backed by a high figure and manner it had the flavour of triumphant repartee. Lord Avonley did not speak of it as a retort upon Nevil, though he reiterated the word Apology amusingly. He put it as due to the lady governing his household; and his ultimatum was, that the Apology should be delivered in terms to satisfy _him_ within three months of the date of the demand for it: otherwise blank; but the shadowy index pointed to the destitution of Nevil Beauchamp.