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A SHABBY GENTEEL STORY 85
CHAPTER IX
WHICH THREATENS DEATH, BUT CONTAINS A GREAT
DEAL OF MARRYING
AS the morrow was to be an eventful day in the lives of all the
heroes and heroines of this history, it will be as well to state
how they passed the night previous. Brandon, like the
English before the battle of Hastings, spent the evening in feasting
and carousing; and Lord Cinqbars, at twelve o'clock, his usual
time after his usual quantity of drink, was carried up to bed by the
servant kept by his Lordship for that purpose. Mr. Tufthunt took
this as a hint to wish Brandon good-night, at the same time promising
that he and Cinqbars would not fail him in the morning
about the duel.
Shall we confess that Mr. Brandon, whose excitement now
began to wear off, and who had a dreadful headache, did not at all
relish the idea of the morrow's combat ?
" If," said he, " I shoot this crack-brained painter, all the world
will cry out ' Murder !' If he shoot me, all the world will laugh
at me ! And yet, confound him ! he seems so bent upon blood,
that there is no escaping a meeting."
" At any rate," Brandon thought, " there will be no harm in a
letter to Caroline." So, on arriving at home, he sat down and
wrote a very pathetic one ; saying that he fought in her cause, and
if he died, his last breath should be for her. So having written, he
jumped into bed, and did not sleep one single wink all night.
As Brandon passed his night like the English, Fitch went
through his like the Normans, in fasting, and mortification, and
meditation. The poor fellow likewise indited a letter to Caroline :
a very long and strong one, interspersed with pieces of poetry, and
containing the words we have just heard him utter out of the
window. Then he thought about making his will : but he recollected,
and, indeed, it was a bitter thought to the young man, that
there was not one single soul in the wide world who cared for him
—except, indeed, thought he, after a pause, that poor Mrs. Carrickfergus
at Rome, who did like me, and was the only person who
ever bought my drawings. So he made over all his sketches to