All ten were wounded. The question of the
spilled Burgundy concerned but two of them. The eight others engaged
because they were men of 'spirit.' They were, indeed, the first
gentlemen of the day. To-night, were you to spill Burgundy on my
cuff, were you even to insult me grossly, these gentlemen would not
consider it incumbent upon them to kill each other. They would
separate us, and to-morrow morning appear as witnesses against us at
Bow Street. We have here to-night, in the persons of Sir Andrew and
myself, an illustration of how the ways have changed."
The men around the table turned and glanced toward the gentleman in
front of the fireplace. He was an elderly and somewhat portly person,
with a kindly, wrinkled countenance, which wore continually a smile
of almost childish confidence and good-nature. It was a face which
the illustrated prints had made intimately familiar. He held a book
from him at arm's-length, as if to adjust his eyesight, and his brows
were knit with interest.
"Now, were this the eighteenth century," continued the gentleman with
the black pearl, "when Sir Andrew left the Club to-night I would have
him bound and gagged and thrown into a sedan chair.
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