oud did it
sound in my own ears, that I did not hear the threats of vengeance he
was muttering in return.

"What business have _you_ here, Sir?" was his first intelligible
question.

"I need not ask the same of you, Monsieur Dominique Gayarre. _Your_
business I can tell well enough ha! ha! ha!"

"I ask you, Sir," he repeated, in a still angrier tone, "what's your
business here?"

"I did not come here on _business_, Monsieur," said I, still keeping up
the tone of levity. "I did not come here on business, _any more than
yourself_."

The emphasis on the last words seemed to render him furious.

"The sooner you go the better, then," he shouted, with a bullying frown.

"For whom?" I inquired.

"For yourself, Sir," was the reply.

I had now also lost temper, though not altogether command of myself.

"Monsieur," said I, advancing and confronting him, "I have yet to learn
that the house of Mademoiselle Besancon is the property of Monsieur
Dominique Gayarre. If it were so, I would be less disposed to respect
the sanctity of its roof. You, Sir, have not respected it. You have
acted infamously towards this young girl--this young _lady_, for she
merits the title as much as the best blood in your land. I have
witnessed your dastardly conduct, and heard your insulting proposals--"

Here Gayarre started, but said nothing. I continued--

"You are not a gentleman, Sir; and therefore not worthy to stand before
my pistol. The owner of this house is not at home. At present it is as
much mine as yours; and I promise you, that if you are not out of it in
ten seconds you shall have my whip laid with severity upon your
shoulders."

I said all this in a tone sufficiently moderate, and in cool blood.
Gayarre must have seen that I meant it, for I _did_ mean it.

"You shall pay dearly for this," he hissed out. "You shall find that
this is not the country for a _spy_."

"Go, Sir!"

"And you, my fine pattern of quadroon virtue," he added, bending a
malicious glance upon Aurore, "there may come a day when you'll be less
prudish: a day when you'll not find such a gallant protector."

"Another word, and--"

The uplifted whip would have fallen on his shoulders. He did not wait
for that, but gliding through the door, shuffled off over the verandah.

I stopped outside to make sure that he was gone. Advancing to the end
of the platform I looked over the paling. The chattering of the birds
told me that some one was pas