Jul. What villain, madam?
Lady Cap. That same villain, Romeo.
Jul. Villain and he are many miles asunder
God pardon him! I do, with all my heart:
And yet no man, like he, doth grieve my heart.
Romeo and Juliet.
When De Vere’s second picked him up, he was senseless; and his shirt, stained with blood on the left breast, made him think he had been shot through the heart. But the surgeon of the brig, who was in attendance, examined him more closely, and found that he had made a narrow escape; he was not mortally, but still dangerously wounded; the ball had struck directly over the heart, but taking a diagonal direction, it had passed out under his arm, without touching the seat of life.
Carefully raising him, they carried him to the boat, and supporting him on their knees, he was conveyed to his vessel, then at anchor in the harbor.
De Vere had promised to dine at Don Manuel’s the day of the duel; and the old gentleman, surprised at his absence—for he had always been most punctual in keeping his appointments there—sent a servant down to the brig to see if the captain was unwell.
The man came hurrying back with a long, exaggerated report of the affair, and said that “Captain De Vere had been shot by a notorious slave captain; and was dying, if not already dead.”