“Nothing can be done by compulsion, of course, but something may be accomplished by persuasion. I will go with you, Miss Helmstedt, to the ground, and use every friendly exertion to effect an adjustment of the difficulties between these antagonists,” said Dr. Hartley. “Oh, then, sir, let us hasten at once. No time is to be lost!” cried Margaret, in the very extremity of anxiety. “It is but a short distance, Miss Helmstedt. Doubtless we shall be in full time,” replied the doctor, buttoning up, his coat and taking down his hat from the peg. Margaret had already, with trembling fingers, tied on her hood. They immediately left the house. “What time did you say they met, Miss Helmstedt?” “I said, ‘very early,’ sir. Alas, I do not know the time to the hour. I fear, I fear--oh, let us hasten, sir.” “It is but five o’clock, Margaret, and the distance is short,” said the doctor, beginning to pity her distress. “Oh, God! perhaps it was at five they were to meet. Oh, hasten!” Their way was first through the lawn, then through the stubble field, then into the copse wood that gradually merged in the thick forest behind the burial ground. “Do you know the exact spot of the purposed meeting, Margaret?” inquired the doctor. “Oh, no, sir, I do not. I only know that my father gave orders for the boat to be in readiness to take him (and his second, of course) to the beach below the burial ground at this point. Now, as the beach is narrow, and the burial ground too sacred a place for such a purpose, I thought of these woods above it.” “Exactly; and there is a natural opening, a sort of level glade, on the top of this wooded hill, that I think likely to be the place selected. We will push forward to that spot.” They hurried on. A walk of five minutes brought them to within the sound of voices, that convinced them that they were near the dueling ground. A few more rapid steps led them to a small, level, open glade, on the summit of the wooded hill. Oh, Heaven of heavens! What a sight to meet the eyes of a daughter and a promised wife! The ground was already marked off. In the drawing of the lots it seemed that the best position had fallen to her father, for he stood with his back to the rising sun, which shone full into the face of Ralph, at the same time dazzling his eyes, and making him the fairest mark for the best marksman in the country. At right angles with the principals stood the seconds, one of them having a handkerchief held in his hand, while the other prepared to give the word. Margaret had not seen her betrothed for three years, and now, oh, agony insupportable, to meet him thus! So absorbed were the duelists in the business upon which they met, and so quietly had she and her escort stolen upon the scene, that the antagonists had perceived no addition to their party, but went on with their bloody purpose. At the very entrance of the newcomers upon the scene, the second of Major Helmstedt gave the word: