The Youth of Jefferson Part 23

Come, you have lost your key, you say--we cannot go to your lodgings: let us find a room in the 'Raleigh,' and arrange this most unhappy affair. Come."

And, followed by Hoffland, Mowbray took his way sadly toward the "Raleigh."

CHAPTER XIV.

HOSTILE CORRESPONDENCE.

We regard it as a very fortunate circ.u.mstance that the ma.n.u.script record of what followed, or did not follow, the events just related, has been faithfully preserved. A simple transcription of the papers will do away with the necessity of relating the particulars in detail; and so we hasten to present the reader with the correspondence, prefacing it with the observation that the affair kept the town or city of Williamsburg in a state of great suspense for two whole days.

I.

"Mr. HOFFLAND:

"You insulted a lady in my presence yesterday evening, and I demand from you a retraction of all that you uttered. I am not skilled in writing, but you will understand me. The friend who bears this will bring your answer.

I am your obed't serv't,

"J. DENIS."

II.

"Mr. DENIS:

"For you know you begin 'Mr. Hoffland!' as if you said, 'Stand and deliver!'--I have read your note, and I am sure I shan't be able to write half as well. I am so young that, unfortunately, I have never had an _affair_, which is a great pity, for I would then know how to write beautiful long sentences that no one could possibly fail to understand.

"You demand a retraction, your note says. I don't like 'demand'--it's such an ugly word, you know; and if you change the letters slightly, it makes a very bad, shocking word, such as is used by profane young men. Then 'retraction' is so hard. For you know I said I was handsome: must I take back that? Then I said that I could not marry the lady we quarrelled about: must I say I can? I can't tell a story, and I a.s.sure you on my honor--yes, Mr. Denis! on my sacred word of honor as a gentleman!--that I cannot marry Lucy!

"You see I can't take it back, and if you were to eat me up I couldn't say I didn't say it.

"To think how angry you were!

"In haste,

"Charles HOFFLAND."

III.

"Mr. HOFFLAND:

"Your note is not satisfactory at all. I did not quarrel with your opinion of yourself, and you know it. I was not foolish enough to be angry at your declaring that you were engaged to some lady already. You spoke of a lady who is my friend, and what you said was insulting.

"I say again that I am not satisfied.

"Your obed't serv't,

"J. DENIS."

IV.

"Mr. DENIS:

"Stop!--I didn't say I was engaged to any lady: no misunderstanding.

"Yours always,

"Charles HOFFLAND."

V.

"Mr. HOFFLAND:

"I do not understand your note. You evade my request for an explanation. I think, therefore, that the shortest way will be to end the matter at once.

"The friend who brings you this will make all the arrangements.

"I have the honor to be,

"J. DENIS."

VI.

"Oh, Mr. Denis, to shoot me in cold blood! Well, never mind!

Of course it's a challenge. But who in the world will be _my_ 'friend'? Please advise me. You know Ernest ought not to--decidedly. He likes you, and you seemed to like Miss Lucy, who must be a very sweet girl as she is Ernest's sister. Therefore, as I have no other friend but Ernest, I should think we might arrange the whole affair without troubling him. I have been talking with some people, and they say I have 'the choice of weapons'--because you challenged me, you know. I would rather fight with a sword, I think, than be shot, but I think we had better have pistols. I therefore suggest pistols, and I have been reading all about fighting, and can lay down the rules.

"1. The pistols shall be held by the princ.i.p.als with the muzzles down, not more than six inches from the right toe--pointing that way, I mean.

"2. The word shall be 'Fire! One, Two, Three!' and if either fire before 'one' or after 'three,' he shall be immediately killed. For you know it would be murder, and ours is a gentlemanly affair of honor.

"3. The survivor, if he is a bachelor, shall marry the wife of the one who falls. You are a bachelor, I believe, and so am I: thus this will not be very hard, and for my part I'm very glad; I shouldn't like to marry a disconsolate widow. I think we could fight on the college green, and Dr. Small might have a chair placed for him under the big tree to look on from--near his door, you know.

"I have the honor to be,

"Yours truly,

"Charles HOFFLAND.

VII.