It was no part of his views that this encounter should be avoided.

If Richard Westmacott were allowed to live after what had passed, there were too many tall fellows might go in peril of their lives.
Richard, meanwhile, had turned to the man on his left--young Vallancey, a notorious partisan of the Duke of Monmouth's, a hair-brained gentleman who was his own worst enemy.
"May I count on you, Ned ?" he asked.
"Aye--to the death," said Vallancey magniloquently.
"Mr.Vallancey," said Trenchard with a wry twist of his sharp features, "you grow prophetic.".