not think of contributing any further to the unfortunate interruption of
the social harmony; and adding that he had no doubt Mr. Pennroyal would,
as soon as he had had time to recollect himself, make every explanation
that the case demanded, he bowed and left the room.

It was afterward suspected that Pennroyal's intoxication had been assumed
for the purpose of insulting the heir of Malmaison with the more impunity;
and that the Major was present expressly to aid and abet him. What, then,
was the object, and what the grounds, of the charge which Pennroyal made?
With respect to the latter, nothing was known until later; but the
immediate result was this. Sir Edward went home, and appeared more
cheerful and in better spirits than usual. He spent the next forenoon in
his chamber, apparently engaged in looking over some papers. In the
afternoon he mentioned to his mother and Archibald that he should be
obliged to run up to London for a few days on business, and that he must
start that evening. He had made no allusion to the affair at Francis
Kent's house, and neither Archibald nor Lady Malmaison knew anything about
it. That evening, accordingly, he bade them good-by, and departed
seemingly with a light heart, bidding his brother act as his accredited
plenipotentiary while he was away, and promising his mother to bring her
the latest fashion in turbans when he returned.

He was absent five days. The Honorable Richard Pennroyal, who had happened
to be likewise called away on business at the same time, returned to his
house some twenty-four hours before Sir Edward was brought in a carriage
to Malmaison, with a bullet-hole just beneath the collar-bone. The fact
is, the two gentlemen had travelled to Belgium instead of to London, and
had there shot at each other in the presence of Major Bolingbroke (who
gave the word) and of a friend of Sir Edward's whose name has not come
down to us. Pennroyal had escaped untouched; Sir Edward, under the care of