_For Nicolas Barkley Esqre_ _at his house_ _Winton St. Mary_ _nr Salisbury, England_ This done, he tugged again at the bell-pull, blew his nose with sounding ferocity, and stuck his legs into the hearth with the air of a man who had successfully achieved a stupendous task. The door opened, and John Simmons entered. "Hang you, sirrah! why don’t you answer my bell at the very moment, sir? Go get me a bottle of rum." Simmons, pallid, frowsy, scared-looking, stood hesitating in the doorway. "Are you deaf, clodpoll?" roared the captain. "A bottle of rum, and instantly!" "Yes, Captain, and the—and the money, sir?" "The money, you dog! Where is the crown-piece I gave you this morning?" "I had to buy the dinner, sir, and——" "Zounds! You’ll answer me, will you? You’re the most pestilent knave man ever had to serve him. ’Tis money, money, all day with you. Would that Sherry Minshull had left you to the hangman! Begone, sirrah! and——" "Pardon!" said a voice in French from the door. "If I am in the way——" "Come in, Monsieur," said Aglionby, springing to his feet. "And you, booby, be off and do my bidding." Simmons vanished precipitately. Monsieur de Polignac gasped as he entered the overheated room. "Phew! It would roast an ox." "Shut the door. I am nursing a pestilent rheum." "So it appears. You are in an ill humour, my friend; I fear my news will not cheer you." "Spit it out and have done with it, then." "Well, this is it. A commission has been made out, I hear, appointing your young Englishman a cornet in the Anspach dragoons." "What young Englishman?" "The young man whom we met at Madame de Vaudrey’s." The captain swore a hearty British oath. "Where learnt you that?" "A la bonne heure! It is true. I have it on authority I cannot doubt. Van Santen pressed it; his influence prevailed. There were several vacancies in the regiment; it lost heavily in the action at Eckeren a few weeks ago. This boy gets the senior cornetcy. We owe it to ourselves, Monsieur le Capitaine, that the junior cornets get an early step." "Peste! We do owe it to ourselves; or, I should rather say, we owe it to yourself. For me, I have knocked about the world too long to take umbrage easily; and look you, Monsieur, my family, although gentle, indeed I may say noble, cannot compare with yours in quartet-ings and such fal-lals. I understand your sentiments; as you say, something must be done." "And at once, for which end I have come to see you. My position, as you perceive, is delicate; for myself, I would seek a quarrel with the bantling and spit him on my rapier without remorse. But affairs of state—you understand me; that alters the case. I must not appear. I propose to you this: to affront the boy, provoke him to a duel; you a veteran, he a tyro; it will be a matter of seconds. Voilà!" The captain gazed steadily at Polignac for a few moments, then said: