et be. Come,
nunky mine." Smiling, the Major fell to his guard and the blades rang
together. "Here he is, see you, his point bearing so, and, ere you can
blink he comes out of tierce and----

"I pink you--so!" said the Major.

"Gad's me life!" exclaimed his nephew, staring. "What the--how--come
again, sir!"

Once more the blades clinked and instantly the Viscount lunged; the
Major stepped back, his blade whirled and the Viscount's weapon spun
from his grasp and clattered to the floor.

"Gad save me poor perishing sawl!" he exclaimed, staring gloomily at
his fallen weapon, "how did ye do 't, sir? Sergeant Zeb, damme you're
laughing at me!"

"Sir," answered the Sergeant, picking up the foil, "I were!"

"Very curst of you! And how did he manage Mancini?"

"Much the same as he managed you, sir, only----"

"Only?"

"Not so--so prompt, sir!"

"The devil he did! But Mancini's esteemed one of the best----"

"So were his honour, sir!"

"O!" said the Viscount, "and he didn't puff and he ain't sweating--my
sawl!"

"'Tis use, nephew."

"And country air, sir! Look at you--young as you were five years
since--nay, younger, I vow. Now look at me, a pasitive bunch of
fiddle-strings--appetite bad, stomach worse, nerves--O love me! A
pasitive wreck, Gad prasper me!"

The Major's sharp eyes noted the youthful, upright figure, the alert
glance, the resolute set of mouth and chin, and he smiled.

"To be sure you are in a--er--a low, weak state of health, I
understand?"

"O sir, most curst."

"Poor Pancras!" said the Major.

"No, no, sir, a Gad's name don't call me so, 'tis a curst name, 'twas
my father's name, beside 'tis a name to hang a dog. Call me Tam, Tam's
short and to the point--all my friends call me Tam, so call me Tam!"

"So be it, Tom. So you come into the country for your health?"

"Aye, sir, I do. Nothing like the country, sir, balmy air--mighty
invigorating, look at the ploughmen they eat and drink and sleep
and--er----"

"Plough!" suggested the Major, gravely.

"Begad, sir, so they do. And besides, I do love the country--brooks
and beehives, nunky; cabbages, y'know, cows d'ye see and clods and
things----"

"And cuckoos, Tom."

"Aye, and cuckoos!" said the Viscount serenely.

"Indeed, the country hath a beauty all its own, sir, so am I come
to----"

"Be near her, nephew!"

"Eh? O! Begad!" saying which Viscount Merivale took out a highly
ornate gold snuff-box, looked at it