"
I bowed my head. The whole mystery was patent before me.
"The family opposition is mutual," said General Davenant, with a proud
smile; "he objects because he believes that I murdered his brother--and
I object because he believes it! He insulted me, outraged me--at the
grave, in the court-house, in public, as in private; and I could not
think of beseeching his honor to give his consent to the marriage of
his daughter with the son of an 'escaped murderer.'"
The old soldier uttered these words with gloomy bitterness; but in a
moment he had regained his coolness.
"That was the end of the affair," he said. "I went home, accompanied by
a _cortege_ of friends who seemed never weary of congratulating me; and
on the next day, I wrote a mortal defiance to Judge Conway, which I
placed in the hands of a friend to convey to him. An hour afterward, I
had mounted my horse, ridden rapidly, caught up with this friend on his
way to Five Forks, and had taken from him the challenge, which I tore
to pieces. You will probably comprehend the motive which compelled me
to do this. It was not repugnance to the modern form of single combat,
I am sorry to say. Old as I was, I had still the ancient hallucination
on that subject. I did not then know that duels were mere
comedies--child's play; that one infantry skirmish results in the
shedding of more blood than all the affairs of a generation.
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