"Precisely!" said Sir Maxwell, who was white with rage. "Precisely! And as to you, poor boy--poor insensate boy--I will send my answer to your private residence as befits a gentleman; but I decline to brawl here. Move off, sir, I say!" A knot of people had collected, and young Beresford was one. He took Leslie's arm, and said: "Come away, and cool yourself." "I will not cool. I will throw the lie back in that fellow's throat; and----" But Mr. Beresford drew Leslie away; but not before Lady Betty--cloaked and muffled, ready to step into her chair--pressed through the little crowd. "What is it? Goodness! What is amiss, Sir Maxwell?" "My dear lady, we have a madman to deal with--that's all. We will settle our affairs on Claverton Down, as others have done." "Oh, mercy! don't fight a duel; it is too shocking, it's----" But Sir Maxwell hurried Lady Betty away, saying in his cold, hard voice, which, however, trembled a little: "That poor boy will repent insulting me; but let it not disturb you." And then Sir Maxwell resigned Lady Betty to David's care, and she was soon lost to sight in the recesses of the chair. The ubiquitous Zach had been on the watch, and had reached North Parade before Lady Betty. Graves, who, as we know, had been anxiously watching for Lady Betty's return, and congratulating herself that she had got Griselda safely to her own room before her ladyship arrived, heard Zach's voice below. Mrs. Abbott loved news, and thus was ready to pardon the boy's late return to the little box where he slept below-stairs, dignified with the name of the "butler's pantry;" and Graves, at the sound of voices, went to the top of the kitchen stairs, and hearing Miss Mainwaring's name, went down two or three steps. "Is anything wrong?" she asked. "Dear bless me, Mrs. Graves, I don't know! This boy says he has been waiting for you all these hours down in Crown Alley." "That's an untruth," said Graves; "but what do I hear him saying about the ladies?" "There's been a brawl in the lobby of the Assembly Room, and they say the baronet and young Mr. Travers will fight afore they settle it." Graves descended now to the kitchen, and asked with bated breath if Zach was telling the truth now, "for," she added, "the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped." Zach's little eyes twinkled. He knew he had got his reward, so Mistress Graves might say what she liked. "Yes," he whined, "it's a fine thing to keep a little chap like me, who works hard all day, awaiting in a place like Crown Alley." Graves took Zach by the arm and shook him vehemently. "You weren't there. You were gossiping by the Assembly Room door. What did you hear there?" Zach made a face, and said: "Let go, and I'll tell you." Graves relaxed her hold. "I heard the young gent tell Sir Maxwell he was a liar, and he'd fight him about Miss Mainwaring. There! you've told me _I'm_ a liar, and I'd like to fight _you_" quoth Zach savagely. CHAPTER XV. CHALLENGED.