As I picked myself up, I saw him running to overtake the
Blairs.
This time there was no discreet girl to turn the edge of my fury. All
the gibes and annoyances of the past months rushed into my mind, and
set my head throbbing. I was angry, but very cool with it all, for I
saw that the matter had now gone too far for tolerance. Unless I were
to be the butt of Virginia, I must assert my manhood.
I nicked the dust from my coat, and walked quietly to where Mr. Grey
was standing amid a knot of his friends, who talked of the races and
their losses and gains. He saw me coming, and said something which made
them form a staring alley, down which I strolled. He kept regarding me
with bright, watchful eyes.
"I have been very patient, sir," I said, "but there is a limit to what
a man may endure from a mannerless fool." And I gave him a hearty slap
on the face.
Instantly there was a dead silence, in which the sound seemed to linger
intolerably. He had grown very white, and his eyes were wicked.
"I am obliged to you, sir," he said. "You are some kind of ragged
gentleman, so no doubt you will give me satisfaction."
"When and where you please," I said sedately.
"Will you name your friend now?" he asked. "These matters demand quick
settlement.
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