"It is not true!" I said, stopping short in the lower hallway. "I am free of that ratty pit forever! And of the old ferret, too," I added, insolently.
"By your favour," said Mr. Butler, "may I ask whether your erudition is impairing your bodily health, that you leave school so early in life, Master Cardigan?"
"If you were a real schoolmaster," said I, hotly, "I would answer you with a kennel lash, but you are an officer and a gentleman." And in a low voice I bade him go to the devil at his convenience.
"One year more and I could call you out for this," he said, staring at me.
"You can do it now!" I retorted, angrily, raising myself a little on my toes.
Suddenly all the hatred and contempt I had so long choked back burst out in language I now blush for. I called him a coward, a Huron, a gentleman with the instincts of a pedagogue. I heaped abuse upon him; I dared him to meet me; nay, I challenged him to face me with rifle or sword, when and where he chose. And all the time he stood staring at me with that deathly laugh which never reached his eyes.
"Measure me!" I said, venomously; "I am as tall as you, lacking an inch. I am a man! This day Sir William freed me from that spider-web you tenant, and now in Heaven's name let us settle that score which every hour has added to since I first beheld you!"
"What?" I stammered. "I ask you to maintain it with rifle or rapier! Blood scours tarnished names!"
"Not your blood," he said, with a stealthy glance at the dining-room door; "not the blood of a boy. That would rust my honour. Wait, Master Cardigan, wait a bit. A year runs like a spotted fawn in cherry-time!"
"You will not meet me?" I blurted out, mortified.
"In a year, perhaps," he said, absently, scarcely looking at me as he spoke.
Then from within the dining-hall came Sir William's roar: "Body o' me! Am I to be kept here at twiddle-thumbs for lack of a carver!"
I stepped back in an instant, bowing to Mr. Butler.
"I will be patient for a year, sir," I said. And so opened the door while he passed me, and into the dining-hall.
"I am sorry, sir," said I, but Sir William cut me short with:
"Damnation, sir! I am asking a blessing!"
So I buried my nose in my hollowed hand and stood up, very still.