“I don’t say that.”
“But I never fired a pistol in my life, and I fence horribly.”
“It will be pistols, Dick. I arranged that it should be. But you will be cool?”
“I hope I shall be just as I am now,” said Richard calmly.
The Colonel looked at him intently, but no nerve showed a tremor.
“A good walk will do you good,” he said, and after telling him the preliminaries, and the place where they were to meet, the conversation was changed and they walked slowly on till the edge of the Downs was reached, and they soon after entered an extensive wood, walking down a leafy glade where all seemed wonderfully peaceful, and its solemnity was so soothing to Richard Linnell that he was about to throw himself upon the turf when Colonel Mellersh stopped short, and pointing to a gnarled beech of stunted growth, exclaimed:
“That will do exactly.”
“Do?” said Linnell. “Do for what?”
“Why, my dear boy, do you suppose I have brought you out here for nothing? No; since the abominable code for furbishing up injured honour exists, and a man may be called out, it is our duty to prepare for emergencies. You cannot use a pistol?”
“No,” said Richard, shaking his head.