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Untitled Article
his ignorance to the highest advantage . The banker kept his temper for a long while , til ^ the ma nner of the other became so insolent and over-bearing , and his arguments so consequentially inconsequential , that the banker could stand it no longer , and called him a bullet-headed fooL The captain , being much the stronger man , was about to use personal violence , but those who
were present interfered , from a general feeling that the epithet exactly illustrated the fact . Next morning the banker received a challenge , written in a lightning-like hand , upon thunder-coloured paper , and sealed with red and black wax . It was far from being legible , but as it smelt strong of powder there was no misunderstanding it * So the banker buttoned up his coat , and went straightway to the captain .
" Sir , " said he , " I am not at all ashamed to confess myself wrong in using the expression which has given you offence , and I am come to apologize for it . "— " You must meet me all the same , sir , " replied the captain : "had I knocked you down at the moment , an apology might now have been accepted ; but as I was prevented , it comes too late . Name your time and place , and go home and settle your affairs . "
The banker considered awhile . " Very well , sir : if it must be so , meet me to-morrow at two o ' clock , in the large field north of the town , with one friend and two pistols ?"— " Lnough , sir !" said the captain , and they parted . The parties met as agreed . The captain was accompanied by the senior major of the regiment—a man old enough to have known better—and the banker by a grentleman attired in rusty
black , of the equi-vocal profession , who on this occasion was his second . As they approached , the major suddenly stepped before his principal and addressed the banker ' s second in a hasty , though very gentlemanly tone ; " Sir , " said he , " what can be the meaning of this ? It was perfectly understood between the parties that pistols were to be the weapons employed upon this occasion , and you have brought a blunderbuss under your
arm !"— " I beg your pardon , major , " rejoined the other , drawing it forth , " it is a telescope . " The major was ready to Laugh at his mistake , but suddenly checked himself : " I sincerely trust , sir , that this is not meant as an insult : explain yourself in few words / ' Hereat the banker stepped forward— -informed the major of his previous and present readiness to apologize , and assured him and his principal that no sort of offence was intended , and that he was aaxious to explain . The apology was declined , and the explanation demanded . * In the first p lace , " said the hanker , * ' I earnestly beg that you , captain , will condescend to look through this tetasegpe ? " j
Untitled Article
Reason in Duetling . 549
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1836, page 549, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2661/page/25/
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