"
He called a waiter, and asked:
"Thomas, is there any gentleman of my acquaintance in the house at
present?"
"Oh, a score, sir. There's Mr. Hidsleigh hup-stairs, and--"
"Mr. Idsleigh will do. Ask him to grant me the favour of coming down
for a minute." The waiter hastened away. "Mr. Russell, of course,
represents you, sir," the captain added, to Philip.
"Yes, sir; and you are the challenged party, of course."
"I thank you, sir. If Mr. Russell will wait, I will introduce my
friend here, and your desire for expedition may be carried out."
"I am much indebted, sir," said Philip; and requesting me to join him
later at the tavern in Dean Street, he took his leave.
When Mr. Idsleigh, a fashionable young buck whom I now recalled having
once seen in the company of Lord March, had presented himself, a very
brief explanation on Falconer's part sufficed to enlist his services
as second; whereupon the captain desired affably that he might be
allowed to finish his letter, and Idsleigh and I retired to a
compartment at the farther end of the room. Idsleigh regarded me with
disdainful indifference, and conducted his side of the preliminaries
in a bored fashion, as if the affair were of even less consequence
than Falconer had pretended to consider it. He set me down as a
nobody, a person quite out of the pale of polite society, and one whom
it was proper to have done with in the shortest time, and with the
fewest words, possible.
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