Edward glanced at the superscription of the letter. "Not posted," he remarked.
"No; delivered by some confounded bailiff, who's been hounding me."
"Bailiffs don't generally deal in warnings."
"Will you read it!" Algernon shouted.
The letter ran thus:—
"Mr. Algernon Blancove,—
"The writer of this intends taking the first opportunity of meeting you, and gives you warning, you will have to answer his question with a Yes or a No; and speak from your conscience. The respectfulness of his behaviour to you as a gentleman will depend upon that."
Algernon followed his cousin's eye down to the last letter in the page.
"What do you think of it?" he asked eagerly.
Edward's broad thin-lined brows were drawn down in gloom. Mastering some black meditation in his brain, he answered Algernon's yells for an opinion,—