D'EGVILLE ; OR THE DUELLIST. 53? 



in his conversation, and stopped walking : after a lapse of some time 

 he said, with agitation., 



" True, sir most true : a duellist should be shunned by the worthy 

 part of mankind. But yon wretched D'Egville is worse than a 

 duellist : he is a murderer ! at least, so I account one who, by con- 

 tinual practice with the pistol, can hit the ace of hearts at fifteen 

 paces who, by being e out,' as it is called, so frequently, is so accus- 

 tomed to human destruction that he can make bons-mots and take 

 snuff the moment before he pulls the trigger ; one whose talent for 

 getting insulted is so exquisite, that he has been known to wear a 

 new hat tied round with rope-yarn to attract notice, which notice he 

 has resented, made into a quarrel, and finally brought to a duel. He 

 has the blood of some twenty victims to account for !" I shuddered 

 to think that I had been in companionship with such a cold-blooded 

 assassin. " Some villains have a conscience/' continued the Captain, 

 " but this man seems to have none ; he is still on the watch for fresh 

 victims, and seems never so happy as in the prospect of twelve paces 

 and an opponent. I have heard of an assassin who declared that he 

 could never looked at a clock at the time the hands pointed to the 

 hour when his black deed was perpetrated, but he beheld the face of 

 him whom he murdered glaring at him from the dial. Yet, strange 

 to say, D'Egville having wantonly destroyed many, with a fiendish 

 delight, seeks to add to his guilt." Stewart again paused, then added 

 in a voice tremulous with emotion, "while I, having in my youth 

 slain one man in a duel, the remembrance is permitted to haunt me 

 through life !" The remark was of a nature and made in a manner 

 to preclude a reply : after a pause of some minutes, the Captain re- 

 sumed " And yet, according to what is called ' honour,' I acted 

 rightly. I sought not the quarrel. My fellow student, Cameron, 

 in a theatre, brutally insulted a young lady : I interfered, and he 

 struck me. I called on him for ' satisfaction ;' we met, and although 

 I never before exploded an ounce of powder, at the first shot Cameron 

 staggered, fell, and after a few struggles of agony ceased for ever to 

 breathe ! And yet the recollection of this event imbitters my days. 

 Do I sleep amid night visions, I behold the prostrate form of Cameron 

 writhing in death struggles, and hear the mortal rattling in his throat ! 

 Am I sick, low-spirited, or lonely, I see him with his smoking pistol 

 dropping from his hand, staggering and falling ! Often on a serene 

 night, when the dark bosom of the ocean glittered with the moon's 

 rays, have I beheld his shrouded cadaverous form rise from the deep, 

 and glide across the horizon ; plainly amid the bowlings of the 

 storm have I heard the short cry of agony, between a yell and a 

 groan, that he uttered when this fatal arm slew him !" 



We walked in silence some distance further, each busy with his 

 own reflections, until I was preparing to take leave of my companion, 

 when he invited me to go on board his ship, the " Planter." As 

 the rain had fallen heavily that day, it brought a great cloud of 

 musquitos, whose stings I could avoid by sleeping at sea ; and my new 

 friend had so won upon me, that I frankly accepted his offer. His 

 gig was waiting for him, in which we embarked, and in a few minutes 

 we ascended the accommodation-ladder. It was late, or, rather early, 



M. M. No. 101. 3 Z 



