“I think that my friend had the hilt of his sword in his mouth, and your allusion was to the infantile instinct which prompted him to do so,” replied the officer, looking red in the face.

“O,” laughed Fred, “did the youngster take offence at my words?  Tell him that hereafter I will swear that he was brought up on a bottle.’

“This is no apology, sir,” cried the officer, inclined to laugh.

“Isn’t it?  Well, it’s all that I am disposed to give, at present;” and Fred helped himself to a fresh cup of coffee.

“By the way,” I continued, “perhaps you have not been to breakfast.  Pray be seated, and have a dish of coffee.”

The officer hesitated for a moment, but thinking, perhaps, that he could best arrange the affair while sipping coffee, he finally took his seat upon an old box, while Smith helped him to a cracked cup minus a saucer.

“Then there is no way of arranging this little affair, is there?” asked the officer, whom we now understood was Lieutenant Merriam.

“O, yes, there are half a dozen ways,” replied Fred, coolly.  “In the first place, your friend can withdraw his challenge—­”

“Never!” exclaimed the officer, firmly.  “We feel too deeply injured.”

“And in the next place, I can refuse to accept it,” Fred continued, without noticing the interruption.

“But you will apologize,” cried Merriam, eagerly.  “Say that you will do that, and I will take my leave.”

“Then I shall do no such thing, for we are not often forced into the company of her majesty’s officers, and we wish to improve the acquaintance.”

The lieutenant looked at Fred as though mentally calculating what kind of a man he was, but in spite of his dignity and bold face, he smiled, and held out his cup for more coffee.

“Then I suppose that you will refer me to a friend with whom I can consult, and settle all preliminary arrangements?” inquired the officer.

“Tell me,” asked Fred, for the first time looking serious, “is your friend really in earnest in this matter?”

“I have to inform you that, he is, sir; and that, as his friend, I have promised to see him through the affair with honor,” our visitor replied.

“Then I will gratify his lighting propensities, as I do not feel disposed to retract words which, under the circumstances, he should have considered as harmless.  Jack, my boy,” Fred said, turning to me, “will you settle with this gentleman when the affair shall come off, and act by me the part of a friend?”

I knew the nature of the man too well to try and dissuade him from the duel—­the most that I could do was to stand by him and endeavor to turn every thing to his advantage.  I gave him the promise he required, when turning to Smith, who had sat at the table a patient listener, during the whole conversation, Fred said—­

“Come, Smith, you and I will visit the scene of the fire, and leave them together.”