CHAPTER XXV.
THE COMBAT AND ITS ISSUE.
Lord Aspenly made one or two eager passes at his opponent, which were parried with perfect ease and coolness; and before he had well recovered his position from the last of those lunges, a single clanging sweep of the major’s sword, taking his adversary’s blade from the point to the hilt with irresistible force, sent his lordship’s weapon whirring through the air some eight or ten yards away.
“Take your life, my lord,” said the major, contemptuously; “I give it to you freely, only wishing the present were more valuable. What do you say now, my lord, to the terms?”
“I say, sir—what do I say?” echoed his lordship, not very coherently. “Major O’Leary, you have disarmed me, sir, and you ask me what I say to your terms. What do I say? Why, sir, I say a
