It came.
"Your memory is correct; I was that lad." "Thank'ee for it too.

Lord! what a jolly life I should have missed! You got no reward, though.

You threw away the guinea I offered you; come, I'll make it twenty guineas to-morrow." The insult was too much.

"Sir, you forget that whatever we may have been, to-night we meet as equals." "Equals!" "As guests in the same house--most certainly for the time being, equals." Richard Brithwood stared, literally dumb with fury.

The standers-by were dumb too, though such fracas were then not uncommon even in drawing-rooms, and in women's presence, especially with men of Mr.
Brithwood's stamp.