"And leave me to the chance of widowhood?"
Sir Peter whitened to a deathly hue; his distressed eyes traveled from her to me; he made to speak, but no sound came.
"This is all useless," I said quietly, as a knock came at the door. I stepped back and opened it to Walter Butler.
When he saw me his dark eyes lit up with that yellow glare I knew already. Then he turned, bowing to Lady Coleville and to Sir Peter, who, pale and astounded, stared at the man as though the fiend himself stood there before him.
"Sir Peter," began his enemy, "I have thought----"
But I cut him short with a contemptuous laugh.
"Sir Peter," I said, "Mr. Butler is here to say that he is not wedded to his Tryon County mistress--that is all; and as he therefore has not offended you, there is no reason for you to challenge him. Now, sir, I pray you take Lady Coleville and return. Go, in God's name, Sir Peter, for time spurs me, and I have business here to keep me!"
"Let Sir Peter remain," said Butler coldly. "My quarrel is not with him, nor his with me."
"No," said I gaily, "it is with me, I think."
"Carus," cried Lady Coleville, "I forbid you! What senseless thing is this you seek?"
"Pray calm yourself, madam," said Mr. Butler; "he stands in more danger of the gallows than of me."
Sir Peter pushed forward. I caught his arm, forcing him aside, but he struggled, saying: "Did you not hear the man? Let me go, Carus; do you think such an insult to you can pass me like a puff of sea-wind?"
"It strikes me first," I said. "It is to me that Mr. Butler answers."
"No, gentlemen, to me!" said a low voice behind us--the voice of Elsin Grey.
Amazed, we turned, passion still marring our white faces. Calm, bright-eyed, a smile that I had never seen imprinted on her closed lips, she walked to the table, unlocked the case of pistols, lifted them, and laid them there in the yellow lamplight.
"Elsin! Elsin!" stammered Lady Coleville; "have you, too, gone mad?"
"This is my quarrel," she said, turning on me so fiercely that I stepped back. "If any shot is fired in deference to me, I fire it; if any bullet is sped to defend my honor, I speed it, gentlemen. Why"--and she turned like a flash upon Sir Peter--"why do you assume to interfere in this? Is not an honest man's duty to his own wife first? Small honor you do yourself or her!--scant love must you bear her to risk your life to chance in a quarrel that concerns not you!"