"I'll meet you here to-morrow at daybreak--say, sharp seven. We can arrange about the pistols to-night. Vandeleur will come with me--he'd run any risk to serve me--and I daresay you could get little Monty to do as much for you. He's a good plucked one." "Do you mean it?" "Unquestionably." "Very well. Tell Vaudeleur what you mean, and let him settle the details. In the meantime we can take things quietly before the ladies. There is no need to scare any of them." "I am not going to scare them. Down, Termagant," said Leonard to the Irish setter, as the low light branches of a neighbouring tree were suddenly stirred, and a few withered leaves drifted down from the rugged bank above the spot where the two men were standing. "Well, I suppose you're a pretty good shot," said the Baron coolly, taking out his cigar-case, "so there'll be no disparity. By-the-by there was a man killed here last year, I heard--a former rival of yours." "Yes, there was a man killed here," answered Leonard, walking slowly on. "Perhaps you killed him?" "I did," answered Leonard, turning upon him suddenly. "I killed him: as I hope to kill you: as I would kill any man who tried to come between me and the woman I loved. He was a gentleman, and I am sorry for him. He fired in the air, and made me feel like a murderer. He knew how to make that last score. I have never had a peaceful moment since I saw him fall, face downward, on that broad slab of rock on the other side of the bridge. You see I am not afraid of you, or I shouldn't tell you this." "I suspected as much from the time I heard the story," said de Cazalet. "I rarely believe in those convenient accidents which so often dispose of inconvenient people. But don't you think it might be better for you if we were to choose a different spot for to-morrow's meeting? Two of your rivals settled in the same gully might look suspicious--for I dare say you intend to kill me." "I shall try," answered Leonard. "Then suppose we were to meet on those sands--Trebarwith Sands, I think you call the place. Not much fear of interruption there, I should think, at seven o'clock in the morning." "You can settle that and everything else with Vandeleur," said Leonard, striding off with his dogs, and leaving the Baron to follow at his leisure. De Cazalet walked slowly back to the farm, meditating deeply.