a thick-built north-countryman; a burly ape of the ultra-elegant; hunter,
gamester, hard-drinker, man of pleasure. His known readiness to fight
was his trump-card at a period when the declining custom of the duel
taxed men's courage to brave the law and the Puritan in the interests of
a privileged and menaced aristocracy. An incident like the present was
the passion in the dice-box to Cumnock. Morsfield was of the order of
men who can be generous up to the pitch of their desires. Consequently,
the world accounted him open-handed and devoted when enamoured. Few men
liked him; he was a hero with some women. The women he trampled on; the
men he despised. To the lady of his choice he sincerely offered his
fortune and his life for the enjoyment of her favour. His ostentation
and his offensive daring combined the characteristics of the peacock and
the hawk. Always near upon madness, there were occasions when he could
eclipse the insane. He had a ringing renown in his class.

Chariot and horsemen arrived at the Roebuck Arms, at the centre of the
small town of Ashead, on the line from Steignton through Rowsley. The
pair of cavaliers dismounted and hustled Weyburn in assisting the ladies
to descend.

The ladies entered the inn; they declined refection of any sort. They
had biscuits and sweetmeats, and looked forward to tea at a farther
stage. Captain Cumnock stooped to their verdict on themselves, with
marvel at the quantity of flesh they managed to put on their bones from
such dieting.

'By your courtesy, sir, a word with you in the inn yard, if you please,'
he said to Weyburn in the inn-porch.

Weyburn answered, 'Half a minute,' and was informed that it was exactly