On the following morning he was rather rudely awakened from a refreshing slumber by a loud rapping at his chamber-door; and on challenging his early visitors, he was informed that it was Captain Lord Vellum and Ensign Warbottle who wished to speak to him on a matter of the gravest importance.
‘You might have chosen a more convenient hour for your visit, gentlemen,’ said the colonel, who was naturally loath to rise from his bed at five o’clock on the first morning after his voyage.
‘It is an “affair of honour,” colonel,’ was the significant reply, ‘and cannot be delayed. We beg you will admit us instantly.’
The colonel rose and opened the door to the early comers. They were two handsome young men, who had on the previous evening already attracted Colonel A——’s attention by the extreme friendliness which they exhibited for each other. They respectfully saluted their commanding officer as they entered the room, and the latter broke an awkward silence by demanding of them the object of their visit.
Ensign Warbottle again raised his hand in salute as he replied: ‘We have come to ask your permission to fight, colonel.’
‘Indeed!’ exclaimed Colonel A——. ‘I thought you were great friends.’
‘Yes, colonel, we have been most intimate friends from our youth upward,’ said Lord Vellum, ‘and we respect each other very sincerely; but we have had a dispute, and our wounded honour must be satisfied.’
‘Then I presume that something very serious must have occurred, gentlemen, to make the only remedy for it a recourse to the pistol?’
‘It is indeed a very serious matter, colonel,’ replied Ensign Warbottle; ‘and it is this. After you had left the table last night, we chatted over what you told us about the doings in London lately; and in the enthusiasm of the moment, I remarked that I should like to be there, riding at the head of a troop of Life Guards, and escorting the Prince Regent, with my silver helmet glittering in the sun and my drawn sword in my hand. Whereupon Lord Vellum said with a sneer that I was a feather-bed soldier, and that a leathern helmet would be quite good enough for such as I. I took no notice of this remark; but I was annoyed and excited; and when he further asserted that the officers of the Life Guards wore brass helmets, human nature could stand it no longer, and I gave him the lie. He retaliated by striking me on the face; an insult, Colonel A——, which justifies me, I think, in demanding a hostile meeting.’ The last words were said in a manner which admitted of only one meaning, and the two young officers exchanged glances of mutual hatred and defiance.