Never was Eustace Trevor nearer to drawing sword, not to do it. But it was his kinsman--cousin; how could he shed his blood? That, too, late so freely, generously offered in his defence! Still, to be stigmatised as a "base renegade," he could not leave such speech unanswered, nor the anger he felt unexpressed. "If you were not my cousin, Rej, I would kill you!" He spoke in a low tone, trembling with passion. "_You_ kill _me_! Ha-ha! Then try, if you like--if you dare!" And the King's officer made a movement as if to unsheath his sword. "You know I dare. But I won't. Not here--not now." It was with the utmost effort Eustace Trevor controlled himself. He only succeeded by thinking of what had been before. For it was no feeling of fear that hindered him crossing his sword with his cousin, but the sentiment hitherto restraining him. "Oh, well!" rejoined Reginald. "We'll meet again--may be on the field of battle. And if so, by G--! I'll make you rue this--show you no mercy!" "You will when you're asked for it." "You needn't ask. When you see my sword out, you'll hear the cry, `No Quarter!'" "When I hear that, I'll cry it too." Not another word passed between them, Reginald wheeling round and galloping off after the soldiers. And from that hour, in his heart, full of jealous vengeance, the resolve, should he ever encounter his cousin in the field of fight, to show him no quarter! CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. WAR IN FULL FURY. An interval of some weeks after the scenes described, and the war, long imminent, was on. All over England men had declared cause and taken sides; the battle of Edgehill had been fought, and blood spilled in various encounters elsewhere. For besides the two chief forces in the field, every shire, almost every hundred, had its parties and partisans, who waged _la petite guerre_ with as much vigour, and more virulence, than the grand armies with generals commanding. Many of the country gentry retired within the walled towns; they who did not, fortifying their houses when there was a plausibility of being able to defend them, and garrisoning them with their friends and retainers. The roads were no longer safe for peaceful travellers, but the reverse. When parties met upon them, strangers to one another, it was with the hail, "Who are you for--King or Parliament?" If the answers were adverse, it was swords out, and a conflict, often commencing with the cry, "No Quarter!" to end in retreat, surrender, or death.