nt courtesy herself, had a touching
faith in his prowess, a faith partly due to her brother occasionally
showing her his bicep muscles in moments of exaltation.

"There's that horrid Jem Hardy," she said, suddenly, as they walked along
the road.

"So it is," said Master Nugent, but without any display of enthusiasm.

"Halloa, Jack," shouted Master Hardy across the road.

"The suspense became painful."

"Halloa," responded the other.

"He's going to fight you," shrilled Miss Nugent, who thought these
amenities ill-timed; "he said so."

Master Hardy crossed the road. "What for?" he demanded, with surprise.

"Because you're a nasty, horrid boy," replied Miss Nugent, drawing
herself up.

"Oh," said Master Hardy, blankly.

The two gentlemen stood regarding each other with uneasy grins; the lady
stood by in breathless expectation. The suspense became painful.

[Illustration: "The suspense became painful."]

"Who are you staring at?" demanded Master Nugent, at last.

"You," replied the other; "who are you staring at?"

"You," said Master Nugent, defiantly.

There was a long interval, both gentlemen experiencing some difficulty in
working up sufficient heat for the engagement.

"You hit me and see what you'll get," said Master Hardy, at length.

"You hit me," said the other.

"Cowardy, cowardy custard," chanted the well-bred Miss Nugent, "ate his
mother's mustard. Cowardy, cowardy cus--"

"Why don't you send that kid home?" demanded Master Hardy, eyeing the
fair songstress with strong disfavour.

"You leave my sister alone," said the other, giving him a light tap on
the shoulder. "There's your coward's blow."

Master Hardy made a ceremonious return. "There's yours," he said.
"Let's go behind the church."

His foe assented, and they proceeded in grave silence to a piece of grass
screened by trees, which stood between the church and the beach. Here
they removed their coats and rolled up their shirt-sleeves. Things look
different out of doors, and to Miss Nugent the arms of both gentlemen
seemed somewhat stick-like in their proportions.

The preliminaries were awful, both combatants prancing round each other
with their faces just peering above their bent right arms, while their
trusty lefts dealt vicious blows at the air. Miss Nugent turned pale and
caught her breath at each blow, then she suddenly reddened with wrath as
James Philip Hardy, having paid his tribute to science, began to hammer
J