"I don't mean to the monkey, sir; I mean to Captain Bragg."
"Oh, that alters the case. The captain is a fighting man."
"Yes, sir; and Mr. Botts is determined on a bloody issue. He has been with Wiggins the whole morning, and I know that he has penned a challenge."
"Well, my dear sir, what can I do to prevent the issue which you apprehend?"
"Bragg will apply to you to act as his second. Could you not persuade him to apologize?"
"Apologize! Apologize for knocking Botts down? Impossible, sir!"
"How impossible? Cannot a man apologize for what he has done?"
"Mr. Pate, you are well versed in legal lore, but you seem to be profoundly ignorant of a very stringent article in the code of honor."
"And what is that, sir?"