Part 9 (1/2)

”Why?”

”If I killed you,” the Colonel replied, eyeing him steadily, ”would it dry my neckcloth or clean my face?”

”No!” Payton retorted with a sneer, ”but it would clean your honour!”

He had felt the reprehension in the air, he had been conscious for a few seconds that he had not the room with him; but the perception made him only the more arrogant now that he felt his feet again. ”It would prove, man, that, unlike the beasts that perish, you valued something more than your life!”

”I do.”

”What?” Payton asked with careless disdain.

”Among other things, my duty.” Payton laughed brutally. ”Why, by the powers, you _are_ a preacher!” he retorted. ”Hang your duty, sir, and you for a craven! Give me acts, not words! It's a man's duty to defend his honour, and you talk of your neckcloth! There's for a new neckcloth!” He pulled out a half-crown and flung it, with an insulting gesture, upon the table. ”Show us your back, and for the future give gentlemen of honour--a wide berth! You are no mate for them!”

The act and the words were too strong for the stomachs of the more generous among his hearers. A murmur, an undoubted murmur rose--for if Payton was feared he was not loved; and the sallow-faced man, whose name was Marsh, spoke out. ”Easy, Payton,” he said. ”The gentleman----”

”The gentleman, eh?”

”Did not come here of his own accord, and you've said enough, and done enough! For my part----”

”I didn't ask for your interference!” the other cried insolently.

”Well, anyway----”

”And I don't want it! And I won't have it; do you hear, Marsh?” Payton repeated menacingly. ”You know me, and I know you.”

”I know that you are a better fencer and a better shot than I am,”

Marsh replied, shrugging his shoulders, ”and I daresay than any of us.

We are apt to believe it, anyway. But----”

”I would advise you to let that be enough,” Payton sneered.

It was then that the Colonel, who had stood silent during the altercation of which he was the subject, spoke--and in a tone somewhat altered. ”I am much obliged to you, sir,” he said, addressing the sallow-faced man, ”but I will cause no further trouble. I crave leave to say one word only, which may come home to some among you. We are all, at times, at the mercy of mean persons. Yes, sir, of mean persons,” the Colonel repeated, raising his voice and speaking in a tone so determined--he seemed another man--that Payton, in the act of seizing a decanter to hurl at him, hesitated. ”For any but a mean person,” Colonel John continued, drawing himself up to his full height, ”finding that he had insulted one who could not meet him on even terms--one who could not resent the insult in the manner intended--would have deemed it all one as if he had insulted a one-armed man, or a blind man, and would have set himself right by an apology.”

At that word Payton found his voice. ”Hang your apology!” he cried furiously.

”By an apology,” the Colonel repeated, fixing him with eyes of unmeasured contempt, ”which would have lowered him no more than an apology to a woman or a child. Not doing so, his act dishonours himself only, and those who sit with him. And one day, unless I mistake not, his own blood, and the blood of others, will rest upon his head.”

With that word the speaker turned slowly, walked with an even pace to the door, and opened it, none gainsaying him. On the threshold he paused and looked back. Something, possibly some chord of superst.i.tion in his breast which his adversary's last words had touched, held Payton silent: and silent the Colonel's raised finger found him.

”I believe,” Colonel John said, gazing solemnly at him, ”that we shall meet again.” And he went out.

Payton turned to the table, and, with an unsteady hand, filled a gla.s.s.

He read disapprobation in the eyes about him, but he had shaken the momentary chill from his own spirits, and he stared them down. ”Sink the old Square-Toes!” he cried. ”He got what he deserved! Who'll throw a main with me?”

”Thirty guineas against your new mare, if you like?”

”No, confound you,” Payton retorted angrily. ”Didn't I say she wasn't for sale?”