The last time we met was at Malta." "Oh, I remember perfectly.

Indeed I should be very ungrateful if I did not; for to your kind offices there I am indebted for my life.

You must surely recollect the street row at the 'Caserne ?'" "Yes; that was a rather brisk affair while it lasted; but, pray, how long are you here ?" "Merely a few days; and most anxious am I to leave as soon as possible; for, independently of pressing reasons to wish myself elsewhere, I have had nothing but trouble and worry since my arrival, and at this instant am involved in a duel, without the slightest cause that I can discover, and, what is still worse, without the aid of a single friend to undertake the requisite negociation for me." "If my services can in any way assist--" "Oh, my dear captain, this is really so great a favour that I cannot say how much I thank you." "Say nothing whatever, but rest quite assured that I am completely at your disposal; for although we are not very old friends, yet I have heard so much of you from some of ours, that I feel as if we had been long acquainted." This was an immense piece of good fortune to me; for, of all the persons I knew, he was the most suited to aid me at this moment.

In addition to a thorough knowledge of the continent and its habits, he spoke French fluently, and had been the most renomme authority in the duello to a large military acquaintance; joining to a consummate tact and cleverness in his diplomacy, a temper that never permitted itself to be ruffled, and a most unexceptionable reputation for courage.

In a word, to have had Trevanion for your second, was not only to have secured odds in your favour, but, still better, to have obtained the certainty that, let the affair take what turn it might, you were sure of coming out of it with credit.