I had not yet drawn myself straight before he fired, and to this
it was that I owe my life. His bullet would have blown out my
brains had I been erect. As it was it whistled through my curls.
At the same instant, just as I threw up my own pistol to fire,
the door flew open and a pair of arms were thrown round me. It
was the beautiful, flushed, frantic face of Lady Jane which
looked up into mine.
"You sha'n't fire! Colonel Gerard, for my sake don't fire," she
cried. "It is a mistake, I tell you, a mistake, a mistake! He
is the best and dearest of husbands. Never again shall I leave
his side." Her hands slid down my arm and closed upon my pistol.
"Jane, Jane," cried Lord Rufton; "come with me.
You should not be here. Come away."
"It is all confoundedly irregular," said Colonel Berkeley.
"Colonel Gerard, you won't fire, will you? My heart would break
if he were hurt."
"Hang it all, Jinny, give the fellow fair play," cried Lord
Dacre. "He stood my fire like a man, and I won't see him
interfered with.
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