ys to me, his long cigar projecting from his
lips with an inch of ash at the end of it.

Quick as a flash I raised my pistol and fired.

"Permit me to trim your ash, sir," said I, and I bowed with a grace
which is unknown among these islanders.

I am convinced that the fault lay with the pistol and not with my aim.
I could hardly believe my own eyes when I saw that I had snapped off the
cigar within half an inch of his lips. He stood staring at me with the
ragged stub of the cigar-end sticking out from his singed mustache. I
can see him now with his foolish, angry eyes and his long, thin, puzzled
face. Then he began to talk. I have always said that the English are not
really a phlegmatic or a taciturn nation if you stir them out of their
groove. No one could have talked in a more animated way than this
colonel. Lady Jane put her hands over her ears.

"Come, come, Colonel Berkeley," said Lord Dacre, sternly, "you forget
yourself. There is a lady in the room."

The colonel gave a stiff bow.

"If Lady Dacre will kindly leave the room," said he,

"I will be able to tell this infernal little Frenchman what I think of
him and his monkey tricks."

I was splendid at that moment, for I ignored the words that he had said
and remembered only the extreme provocation.

"Sir," said I, "I freely offer you my apologies for this unhappy
incident. I felt that if I did not discharge my pistol Lord Dacre's
honour might feel hurt, and yet it was quite impossible for me, after
hearing what this lady has said, to aim it at her husband. I looked
round for a mark, therefore, and I had the extreme misfortune to blow
your cigar out of your mouth when my intention had merely been to snuff
the ash. I was betrayed by my pistol. This is my explanation, sir,
and if after listening to my apologies you still feel that I owe you
satisfaction, I need not say that it is a request which I am unable to
refuse."

It was certainly a charming attitude which I had assumed, and it won the
hearts of all of them. Lord Dacre stepped forward and wrung me by the
hand. "By George, sir," said he, "I never thought to feel toward a
Frenchman as I do to you. You're a man and a gentleman, and I can't say
more." Lord Rufton said nothing, but his hand-grip told me all that he
thought. Even Colonel Berkeley paid me a compliment, and declared that
he would think no more about the unfortunate cigar.

And she--ah, if you could have seen the look she gave me, the flus