I promised myself that a
day of retribution must come. Again and again did I lay this comfort to
my heart--that, one time or other, his habitual prudence would desert
him; that his transgression would exceed the narrow line that separates
an impertinent freedom from an insult, and then---- Now this time had
come at last. Such a chance might not again present itself, and must not
be thrown away.

My reasonings had come to this point, when a tremendous knocking at my
door, and a loud shout of 'Jack! Jack Hinton!' announced O'Grady. This
was fortunate. He was the only man whom I knew well enough to consult
in such a matter; and of all others, he was the one on whose advice and
counsel I could place implicit reliance.

'What the deuce is all this, my dear Hinton?' said he, as he grasped
my hand in both of his. 'I was playing whist with the tabbies when it
occurred, and saw nothing of the whole matter. She fainted, didn't she?
What the deuce could you have said or done?'

'Could I have said or done! What do you mean, O'Grady?'

'Come, come, be frank with me; what was it? If you are in a scrape, I am
not the man to leave you in it.'

'First of all,' said I, assuming with all my might a forced and
simulated composure, 'first of all, tell me what you heard in the
drawing-room.'

'What I heard? Egad, it was plain enough. In the beginning, a young lady
came souse down upon the floor; screams and smelling-bottles followed; a
general running hither and thither, in which confusion, by-the-bye, our
adversaries contrived to manage a new deal, though I had four by honours
in my hand. Old Miss Macan upset my markers, drank my negus, and then
fainted off herself, with a face like an apothecary's rose.'

'Yes, yes; but,' said I impatiently, 'what of Miss Bellew?'

'What of her! that you must know best. You know, of course, what
occurred between you.'

'My dear O'Grady,' said I, with passionate eagerness, 'do be explicit.
What did they say in the drawing-room? What turn has been given to this
affair?'

''Faith, I can't tell you; I am as much in the dark as my neighbours.
After the lady was carried out and you ran away, they all began talking
it over. Some said you had been proposing an elopement: others said you
hadn't. The Rileys swore you had asked to have your picture back again;
and old Mrs. Ram, who had planted herself behind a curtain to overhear
all, forgot, it seems, that the window was open, and caught such a cold
in