or many
ladies were present. While all were in the very midst and height of
their amusement, suddenly the disgraced officer made his appearance
among them in his dress uniform. How could this be? how came he there?
Assuredly no one had invited him. As he advanced into the middle of the
brilliantly lighted room an empty space was left for him, officers and
ladies shrinking from him, as though his near approach brought
defilement with it. Looking quietly round, he deliberately produced and
held up a hand-grenade, as it was called--that is to say, a small
bombshell--and, before any one of the astonished spectators could stop
him, lighted a match at one of the wax-candles, and applied it to the
fusee of the shell. A shower of sparks came rushing from the hand-
grenade, which would explode in a minute or two or even less. The
consternation of the company was frightful, and a furious and general
rush was made to the doors. As the guests dashed out of the room, some
just caught sight of the officer who had brought in and lighted the
shell standing calmly over it with his arms folded. A few moments more,
all the company had vanished terror-stricken, and then a frightful
explosion was heard. One or two of the officers hurried back with
horror on their faces. The man who had been branded as a coward lay
outstretched on the ground. He had thrown himself flat on the floor the
instant the room was cleared; the fragments of the shell had flown over
him, and he was almost entirely uninjured.

"His object in this extraordinary proceeding was to show his brother
officers and the world generally that a man might refuse, from
conscientious motives, to fight a duel and yet be no coward. I am not
praising or approving of his conduct in taking such a dangerous course
to prove his point; for he was endangering the lives of many as well as
his own life, and nothing could justify that. But, if the story be
true, it shows at least that a man may decline to do an act from a high
sense of duty, so as to bring upon himself the reproach of cowardice,
and yet may be a man of undoubted bravery after all. But I do not at
all place this officer on my list of moral heroes. I trust, however,
dear Walter, that our conversation on this subject will strengthen in
you the conviction that the noblest and truest courage is that high
moral courage which enables a man to endure with patience any scorn, or
loss, or blame, rather than deliberately do