ree will, and I
received them, and certainly will receive as many as come to us under
similar circumstances."

"Then I suppose you will not cause them to withdraw from your troop, as
Lord Cumber insists on."

"Insists on! Will he allow neither the tenant nor the yeoman the use of
his free will, Mr. Fenton? I see nothing now remains but to refer you
to my friend, Captain Ormsby, who will assist you in making all the
necessary arrangements; and the sooner this unpleasant matter is
terminated; the better."

After bidding each other good morning, Mr. Fenton departed to make, as
Hartley termed them, "the necessary arrangements."

The next morning at day-break, in a paddock about two miles from Castle
Cumber, there stood a very elegant young man, of a high and aristocratic
bearing, accompanied by Mr. Fenton, to whom he appeared to be relating
some pleasant anecdote, if one could judge by the cheerful features of
the narrator, and the laughter of his companion. A carriage stood by a
kind of scalp in the road, which carriage contained a medical man,
who, indeed, was present with great reluctance. In a few minutes a
gig, containing two persons, drove to the same spot at a rapid pace,
a gentleman on horseback accompanying it; these were Mr. Hartley,
his friend, Captain Ormsby, and a medical gentleman, whom he also had
brought on the occasion.

On meeting the two principals bowed politely, addressing each other in
friendly terms, and were actually advancing to shake hands, when they
mutually checked themselves, and Hartley, smiling, said:--

"My Lord, I fear that this is really a foolish business--why, it is
literally fighting a duel upon abstract principles."

"It is fighting a duel upon a principle, which, either abstract or
not, I will always support. If, however, you wish to avoid a duel, Mr.
Hartley, you have only to withdraw the offensive term you applied to the
principle in question."

"As soon, my Lord, as you renounce the principle itself."

"Enough," said Lord Cumber, "gentlemen, please to let us take our
ground."

Nothing could surpass the coolness, the ease of manner, and fine bearing
of both. The ground was measured at twelve paces, and it was agreed
by the seconds, from principles of humanity, that they should fire by
signal. Indeed, we may say here, that the seconds did everything that
men so circumstanced could do, to prevent the necessity of fighting.
Each, however, was high-minded and courageous, and