y boy, I'm in a
scrape."

"A scrape?"

"Yes--a duel. Will you be my second?"

"A duel!" cried Jack, and gave a long whistle.

"Fact," said I, "and it all arose out of my mistaking a man's wife for
His daughter."

"Mistaking her?" cried Jack, with a roar of laughter. "So you did. Oh,
Macrorie! how awfully spooney you were about her, you know--ready to
fight with your best friend about her, and all that, you know. And how
did it go on? What happened? Come, now, don't do the reticent. Out with
it, man. Every bit of it. A duel! And about a man's wife! Good Lord
Macrorie, you'll have to leave the regiment. An affair like this will
rouse the whole town. These infernal newspapers will give exaggerated
accounts of every thing, you know. And then you'll get it. By Jove,
Macrorie, I begin to think your scrape is worse than mine."

"By-the-way, Jack, how are you doing?"

"Confound it man, what do you take me for? Do you think I'm a stalk or
a stone. No, by Jove, I'm a man, and I'm crazy to hear about your
affair. What happened? What did you do? What did you say? Something
must have taken place, you know. You must have been awfully sweet on
her. By Jove! And did the old fellow see you at it? Did he notice any
thing? A duel! Something must have happened. Oh, by Jove! don't I know
the old rascal! Not boisterous, not noisy, but keen, sir, as a razor,
and every word a dagger. The most savage, cynical, cutting, insulting
old scoundrel of an Irishman that I ever met with. By Heaven, Macrorie,
I'd like to be principal in the duel instead of second. By Jove, how
that old villain did walk into me that last time I called there!

"Well, you see," I began, "when I went to his house he introduced _me_,
And didn't introduce _her_."

"Yes."

"Well, I talked with her several times, but for various reasons,
unnecessary to state, I never mentioned her name. I just chatted with
her, you know, the way a fellow generally does."

"Was the old fellow by?"

"Oh, yes, but you know yesterday I went there and found her alone."

"Well?"

"Well--you know--you were so determined at the time of our row, that I
resolved to be beforehand, so I at once made a rush for the prize, and
--and--"

"And, what?"

"Why--did the spooney--you know--told her my feelings--and all that
sort of thing, you know."

I then went on and gave Jack a full account of that memorable scene,
The embarrassment of Nora, and the arrival of O'Halloran, together with
ou