Rafael Sabatini

“ Sir George turned at the rustle of her approach.
"Ah, madam!" said he, and bowed. "I thought you a--bed."
"I overheard Lord Spawle," said she, speaking quickly, her voice unsteady. "'Tis not, I trust, Lord Spawle's fault?" he answered. "Such things are not for gentle ears."
"What he said is true," she pursued. "You are a butcher, no better--a murderer. 'Tis what all the town will be saying of you tomorrow. You rant to me of my name, and of the scandal attaching to it. What manner of scandal, think you, will attach to yours? ”

“ Sir George put up his quizzing-glass to take a cool and insolent scrutiny of the artist. Gadsby flushed under that discomposing stare.
"Egad!" said the baronet, and he laughed unpleasantly, "you're a confiding company to sit down to faro with that flash cove!" The jerk of gold-rimmed glass towards Gadsby left no doubt as to the person at whom his insult was aimed.
There was a scraping of chairs. Men swung round in speechless amazement to stare at the speaker. Gadsby turning first scarlet, then white to the lips, considered the baronet with furious eyes. ”

“ As your shot has already afforded you all the redress to which you were entitled by the laws of honour, you will perceive that such an admission as this will be extremely generous on my part."
Gadsby, who had been staring at the baronet out of a face that was woefully white, cleared his throat to reply.
"I do not think I apprehend you quite, Sir George," said he.
"I do not think it necessary that you should," was the cool answer. "I have--out of motives which I see no necessity to disclose--imposed certain conditions which may (for I do not promise absolutely that they will) save your life. ”

“ After a brief consultation with Gadsby--a consultation which brought a ray of hope into the funereal gloom in which he was plunged--the four seconds went apart. Spawle span a coin; Quentin called, won the toss on behalf of Gadsby, and retired in decently dissembled glee to bear the good news to his principal.
At twenty paces the men took their stand, facing each other. The shortness of the distance, prescribed by Sir George, was a further point in favour of so indifferent a marksman as Gadsby.
The artist braced himself for the effort upon which his life depended. ”

“ Next morning, in the chaise, he informed Spawle of the altered conditions which the latter was to propose to Gadsby's seconds.
"They'll snatch at it," said his lordship. "'Tis their only chance of getting their man away alive. But--skewer my vitals!--ye're clean mad, I take it, Geordie!"
"Perhaps," said Sir George; and he refused further explanation of his motives.
As Lord Spawle opined, so it fell out. Gadsby's seconds, who had been convinced that Gadsby's funeral must inevitably follow, were overjoyed by the proposal. ”

“ The fewest words will serve. You will have heard that I can hit a flying swallow, and you may conceive that if I fire to kill you your death will be as certain as only death itself can be. I am not going to fire to-day," Sir George continued slowly. "In the agreement into which we have entered there is no stipulation that the second shot be fired within any given time. ”

“ But all is well," he reassured her; "all is so very well."
Brokenly she begged his pardon for her wrong-headedness. But this he cut short.
"Mr. Gadsby is below, waiting to take his leave of you. Will you receive him?"
"How can I?" quoth she. "Beg him to hold me excused."
Begging her expect his immediate return, Sir George went to dismiss his guest.
"Mr. Gadsby," said he, "I present to you her ladyship's compliments and her regrets that as she is but newly risen she cannot in person receive your adieux. She desires me, further, to wish you a happy journey into Gloucester. ”

“ Reject these conditions, and I step back to my place yonder, and in twenty seconds you will be before your Maker. It is for you to make choice, sir."
Another man in Gadsby's place might have told Sir George to fire and be damned. But Gadsby was of no such fine temper, as Sir George had shrewdly judged. Indeed, the painter had a difficulty in dissembling the eagerness with which he accepted this unexpected chance of life and the terms imposed.
Thus it fell out that a half-hour later Sir George and Mr. Gadsby came together in a chaise to the baronet's handsome house in King Street. ”

“ The Ordeal No one could deny that Lady Sutliffe was possessed of at least two devils. Both were devils who make feminine affairs their province, and neither was particularly malign. The first was the mischievous Imp of Coquetry, whose business it is slyly and playfully to clear the way for Satan himself, but who makes as many failures as successes in his undertakings ”