He had an interview the next day with Major O’Teague, and found him ready to agree to any suggestion made in regard to the meeting. The only detail to which he took a momentary exception was in respect of the ground.
“Hivins, Mr. Sheridan, aren’t there many nice and tidy places more adjacent than that paddock, where our friends can have an enjoyable hour?” he said. “Faith, sir, I have always thought Bath singularly favoured by Providence in this respect. A bountiful Hivin seems to have designed it for the settlement of these little affairs. ’Tis singularly complete in this way, as you may have remarked. Egad! you could kill your man at the corner of any street. Doesn’t it seem to be spurning the gifts which Providence has laid at our very feet to go two miles out into the country?”
But Mr. Sheridan had something of the sentimental Irishman in his nature also, and so he was able to acknowledge frankly that it was on the border-line of atheism for any one to assert that it was necessary to go two miles out of Bath in order to conduct friendly hostilities; still, he thought that the whim of an old gentleman should be respected.
“Mr. Long has lived in the country all his life, you see, Major O’Teague, and that is no doubt why he makes it a point of sentiment always to fight in the midst of a sylvan landscape, free from the contaminating hand of man, you understand?” said Dick.
“’Tis a beautiful thought, sir,” said Major O’Teague, raising his eyes toward the ceiling. “And ’tis one that I can appreciate to the full, Mr. Sheridan. Thank Hivin, a life of pretty rough campaigning among pretty rough characters hasn’t blunted my finer sensibilities. I feel that we are bound to respect the whim of your friend just as if we were his executors. ’Twould be just the same if he had expressed a desire to be buried under a special tree—maybe one that he had climbed for chestnuts when a boy, or courted the girl of his choice under when a sthripling. He didn’t say that he had a whim about being laid to rest under a special tree, sir?”
“We haven’t discussed that point yet, sir,” said Dick. “The fact is, I am rather a novice in this business, as you may have perceived, major.”
“Don’t apologise, sir; we must all make a beginning. ’Tis not your fault, I’m sure, Mr. Sheridan, that y’haven’t killed your man long ago.”
“You do me honour, sir,” said Dick.
“Not I, sir. Can’t I see with half an eye that y’have the spirit of an annihilator beating within your bosom? ’Tis only your misfortune that y’haven’t been given your chance yet. But I hope that y’ll mind that you must make up for lost time.”
“It will be my study, sir. I intend to begin without delay by calling out your friend Captain Mathews when this little affair is over.”