Venetia

  CHAPTER XVII.

  Lord Cadurcis, unhappy at home, and wearied of the commonplaceresources of society, had passed the night in every species ofdissipation; his principal companion being that same young nobleman inwhose company he had been when he first met Venetia at Ranelagh. Themorn was breaking when Cadurcis and his friend arrived at his door.They had settled to welcome the dawn with a beaker of burnt Burgundy.

  'Now, my dear Scrope,' said Cadurcis, 'now for quiet and philosophy.The laughter of those infernal women, the rattle of those cursed dice,and the oaths of those ruffians are still ringing in my ears. Let uscompose ourselves, and moralise.'

  Accustomed to their master's habits, who generally turned night intoday, the household were all on the alert; a blazing fire greeted them,and his lordship ordered instantly a devil and the burnt Burgundy.

  'Sit you down here, my Scrope; that is the seat of honour, and youshall have it. What is this, a letter? and marked "Urgent," and in aman's hand. It must be read. Some good fellow nabbed by a bailiff,or planted by his mistress. Signals of distress! We must assist ourfriends.'

  The flame of the fire fell upon Lord Cadurcis' face as he read theletter; he was still standing, while his friend was stretched out inhis easy chair, and inwardly congratulating himself on his comfortableprospects. The countenance of Cadurcis did not change, but he bithis lip, and read the letter twice, and turned it over, but with acareless air; and then he asked what o'clock it was. The servantinformed him, and left the room.

  'Scrope,' said Lord Cadurcis, quietly, and still standing, 'are youvery drunk?'

  'My dear fellow, I am as fresh as possible; you will see what justiceI shall do to the Burgundy.'

  '"Burgundy to-morrow," as the Greek proverb saith,' observed LordCadurcis. 'Read that.'

  His companion had the pleasure of perusing a challenge from LordMonteagle, couched in no gentle terms, and requesting an immediatemeeting.

  'Well, I never heard anything more ridiculous in my life,' said LordScrope. 'Does he want satisfaction because you have planted her?'

  'D--n her!' said Lord Cadurcis. 'She has occasioned me a thousandannoyances, and now she has spoilt our supper. I don't know, though;he wants to fight quickly, let us fight at once. I will send him acartel now, and then we can have our Burgundy. You will go out withme, of course? Hyde Park, six o'clock, and short swords.'

  Lord Cadurcis accordingly sat down, wrote his letter, and dispatchedit by Mr. Spalding to Monteagle House, with peremptory instructions tobring back an answer. The companions then turned to their devil.

  'This is a bore, Cadurcis,' said Lord Scrope.

  'It is. I cannot say I am very valorous in a bad cause. I do not liketo fight "upon compulsion," I confess. If I had time to screw mycourage up, I dare say I should do it very well. I dare say, forinstance, if ever I am publicly executed, I shall die game.'

  'God forbid!' said Lord Scrope. 'I say, Cadurcis, I would not drinkany Burgundy if I were you. I shall take a glass of cold water.'

  'Ah! you are only a second, and so you want to cool your valour,' saidCadurcis. 'You have all the fun.'

  'But how came this blow-up?' inquired Lord Scrope. 'Lettersdiscovered, eh? Because I thought you never saw her now?'

  'By Jove! my dear fellow, she has been the whole evening heremasquerading it like a very vixen, as she is; and now she hascommitted us both. I have burnt her letters, without reading them,for the last month. Now I call that honourable; because, as I had nolonger any claim on her heart, I would not think of trenching on hercorrespondence. But honour, what is honour in these dishonourabledays? This is my reward. She contrived to enter my house this evening,dressed like a farmer's boy, and you may imagine what ensued; rage,hysterics, and repentance. I am sure if Monteagle had seen me, hewould not have been jealous. I never opened my mouth, but, like afool, sent her home in my carriage; and now I am going to be runthrough the body for my politeness.'

  In this light strain, blended, however, with more decorous feeling onthe part of Lord Scrope, the young men conversed until the messenger'sreturn with Lord Monteagle's answer. In Hyde Park, in the course of anhour, himself and Lord Cadurcis, attended by their friends, were tomeet.

  'Well, there is nothing like having these affairs over,' saidCadurcis; 'and to confess the truth, my dear Scrope, I should not muchcare if Monteagle were to despatch me to my fathers; for, in the wholecourse of my miserable life, and miserable, whatever the world maythink, it has been, I never felt much more wretched than I have duringthe last four-and-twenty hours. By Jove! do you know I was going toleave England this morning, and I have ordered my horses, too.'

  'Leave England!'

  'Yes, leave England; and where I never intended to return.'

  'Well, you are the oddest person I ever knew, Cadurcis. I should havethought you the happiest person that ever existed. Everybody admires,everybody envies you. You seem to have everything that man can desire.Your life is a perpetual triumph.'

  'Ah! my dear Scrope, there is a skeleton in every house. If you knewall, you would not envy me.'

  'Well, we have not much time,' said Lord Scrope; 'have you anyarrangements to make?'

  'None. My property goes to George, who is my only relative, withoutthe necessity of a will, otherwise I should leave everything to him,for he is a good fellow, and my blood is in his veins. Just youremember, Scrope, that I will be buried with my mother. That is all;and now let us get ready.'

  The sun had just risen when the young men went forth, and the daypromised to be as brilliant as the preceding one. Not a soul wasstirring in the courtly quarter in which Cadurcis resided; even thelast watchman had stolen to repose. They called a hackney coach at thefirst stand they reached, and were soon at the destined spot. Theywere indeed before their time, and strolling by the side of theSerpentine, Cadurcis said, 'Yesterday morning was one of the happiestof my life, Scrope, and I was in hopes that an event would haveoccurred in the course of the day that might have been my salvation.If it had, by-the-bye, I should not have returned to town, and gotinto this cursed scrape. However, the gods were against me, and now Iam reckless.'

  Now Lord Monteagle and his friend, who was Mr. Horace Pole, appeared.Cadurcis advanced, and bowed; Lord Monteagle returned his bow,stiffly, but did not speak. The seconds chose their ground, thechampions disembarrassed themselves of their coats, and their swordscrossed. It was a brief affair. After a few passes, Cadurcis receiveda slight wound in his arm, while his weapon pierced his antagonist inthe breast. Lord Monteagle dropped his sword and fell.

  'You had better fly, Lord Cadurcis,' said Mr. Horace Pole. 'This is abad business, I fear; we have a surgeon at hand, and he can help us tothe coach that is waiting close by.'

  'I thank you, sir, I never fly,' said Lord Cadurcis; 'and I shall waithere until I see your principal safely deposited in his carriage; hewill have no objection to my friend, Lord Scrope, assisting him, who,by his presence to-day, has only fulfilled one of the painful dutiesthat society imposes upon us.'

  The surgeon gave an unfavourable report of the wound, which he dressedon the field. Lord Monteagle was then borne to his carriage, which wasat hand, and Lord Scrope, the moment he had seen the equipage moveslowly off, returned to his friend.

  'Well Cadurcis,' he exclaimed in an anxious voice, 'I hope you havenot killed him. What will you do now?'

  'I shall go home, and await the result, my dear Scrope. I am sorry foryou, for this may get you into trouble. For myself, I care nothing.'

  'You bleed!' said Lord Scrope.

  'A scratch. I almost wish our lots had been the reverse. Come, Scrope,help me on with my coat. Yesterday I lost my heart, last night I lostmy money, and perhaps to-morrow I shall lose my arm. It seems we arenot in luck.