passed me, who was
a captain in the Lancers, and a notorious bully and duellist. We went
out. I hit him in the hand, and he lost his arm above the elbow, and
there was the end of it."

"Perhaps you will be kind enough to tell me a little more about it, Mr.
Strelinski," Julian said, turning to the Pole, and in spite of a growl
from Frank that there was nothing to tell, the Pole related the whole
circumstances of the quarrel, the feeling that had been excited by it,
Frank's expressed determination not to inflict serious injury upon the
man but to carry away his trigger-finger only, and so put an end to his
duels in the future, and the manner in which his intention was carried
out.

"Well, I congratulate you, Frank, very heartily," Julian said, when
Strelinski had finished. "Why on earth did you not tell me about this
before?"

"Really, Julian, there was nothing to tell about. It was a disagreeable
incident altogether, and I considered then, as I have considered since,
that it was hardly fair of me to go out with him when I was so certain
of my shooting, and it was a hundred to one in my favour. I should never
have done it if he had not forced the quarrel upon young Wilmington; for
the young fellow must either have gone out, which would have been
throwing away his life, or left the service."

"Unfair, my dear Frank! why the man himself had always relied upon his
superior skill, and you were able to beat him at his own game. Well, I
wish I could shoot as well. However, as I am not going to do any more
soldiering, I don't know that it would be of much use to me; still I
should like to be able to do it."

The next morning they started by coach for Weymouth, leaving Julian's
heavier luggage to follow by carrier waggon. Mrs. Troutbeck's joy, when
her two nephews arrived together, for a time completely overpowered her,
and smelling salts and other restoratives had to be brought into play
before she recovered. The event created quite an excitement in Weymouth.
The appearance of Frank's name so frequently in Sir Robert Wilson's
despatches had been a source of pride to the whole town, and especially
to his old school-fellows, while the clearing up of the mystery that had
so long hung over Julian's fate was no less interesting. The sympathy
with him was so great and general that no one was surprised or shocked
that, under the circumstances, he had been driven to enlist in the
French army, and had taken part in the Russian cam