“Oh, madam, I must say the word would better suit one more able to sustain it. I shall take the liberty to withdraw.” And so saying, he moved towards the door; but Miss Daly interposed, and, by a gesture of her hand, in which she held a formidable horsewhip, gave a very unmistakable sign that the passage was not free. “You 'll not go yet, sir. I have not done with you,” said she, in a voice every accent of which vibrated in the little man's heart. “You affect to regret, sir, that I am not of the sex that exacts satisfaction, as it is called; but I tell you, I come of a family that never gave long scores to a debt of honor. You have presumed--in a company, certainly, where the hazard of contradiction was small--to asperse a gentleman of whom you know nothing,--not one single fact,--not one iota of his life, character, or fortune. You have dared to call him by words every letter of which would have left a welt on your shoulders if uttered in his hearing. Now, as I am certain he would pay any little debts I might have perchance forgotten in leaving a place where I had resided, so will I do likewise by him; and here, on this spot, and in this fair company, I call upon you to unsay your falsehood, or--” Here she made one step forward, with an air and gesture that made Mr. Dunlop retire with a most comic alacrity. “Don't be afraid, sir,” continued she, laughing. “My brother, Mr. Bagenal Daly, will arrive here soon. He 's no new name to your ears. In any case, I promise you that whatever you find objectionable in my proceedings towards you he will be most happy to sustain. Now, sir, the hand wants four minutes to six. If the hour strike before you call yourself a wanton, gratuitous calumniator, I 'll flog you round the room.” A cry of horror burst from the female portion of the assembly at a threat the utterance of which was really not less terrific than the meaning. “Such a spectacle,” continued Miss Daly, sarcastically, “I should scruple to inflict on this fair company; but the taste that could find pleasure in witless, pointless slander may not, it is possible, dislike to see a little castigation. Now, sir, you have just one minute and a quarter.” “I protest against this conduct, madam. I here declare--” [Illustration: 146] “Declare nothing, sir, till you have avowed yourself by your real name and character. If you cannot restrain your tongue, I 'll very soon convince you that its consequences are far from agreeable. Is what you have spoken false?” “There may come a heavy reckoning for all this, madam,” said Dunlop, trembling between fear and passion. “I ask you again, and for the last time, are your words untrue? Very well, sir. You held a commission in Germany, they say; and probably, as a military man, you may think it undignified to surrender, except on compulsion.”