ure
at such a time--the woman came to me stirring a cup of tea with, as she
said, just a spoonful of brandy in it to settle my spirits.

What a thought! I to take tea with brandy in it, and FREDERICK perhaps
at that moment--

JOSEPHINE--I'll do the girl so much justice at last--was running to and
fro, upstairs and downstairs--and putting the house, from one end to the
other, in a ferment. At last the landlady desired her to be quiet, and
not go about making noise enough to tear people out of their beds. If
all the world was gone out to be shot, that was no reason why their
house should be ruined!

Well, I won't attempt to describe the two hours I suffered! How,
sometimes, I thought I'd have a horse and go galloping anywhere,
everywhere.

"It's all over, Ma'am!"--cried JOSEPHINE, running in.

"Over!" and I saw death in the girl's face.

"Over, Ma'am. They fired two shots, Ma'am--two a-piece--they say, and"--

"Yes--yes"--

"And master"--

"Killed!"--I screamed.

"No, Ma'am! Quite the reverse!"--

(How I thanked the girl for the words, though where _could_ she have
picked 'em up?)

"He has not killed his--I mean the--other gentleman?"--

"No, Ma'am, totally the contrary. Nobody's hit--not so much as winged,
though what that means I can't say--only I heard one of the men say as
much. But all of 'em in custody."

"What now? Why, what for?--"

"Why, Ma'am, as I hear, for every one of the gentlemen to be bound over
to keep his peace for the rest of his born days! And la! bless me--how
ill you turn, Ma'am, and when it's all over?"

"Not at all, JOSEPHINE. I'm very well, now: very well, indeed," and
then rose my determination. Yes, I'd go home that very day. "JOSEPHINE,
pack up as much as you can. Your master shall go home, I'll take care of
_that_ directly."

"That's right, Ma'am. Now you've got him safe and sound once more, you
couldn't do better, Ma'am. And for MR. TRUEPENNY"--

Well, his very name set me in a flame. "MR. TRUEPENNY! He never crosses
_my_ threshold! A very pretty friend indeed, to come and lure a man--a
newly-married man"--

"Not married a month yet, quite, Ma'am," said JOSEPHINE, "which makes it
hard."--

"And take him out, I may say, in cold blood"--

"Which makes it ten times wickeder," said JOSEPHINE.

"And butcher him like a lamb," said I.

"Exactly like a lamb, Ma'am," cried the girl. "Only there is this
difference, Ma'am: you know master isn't a bit hurt."

"That has n