A ROMANCE OF NEW YORK.

BY THEODORE S. FAY,

AUTHOR OF DREAMS AND REVERIES OF a quiet man,"

LESLIE,"
," "COUNTESS IDA," &c.

99.66

NORMAN

NEW-YORK:

HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF-STREET.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by HARPER & BROTHERS,

In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York.

HOBOK E N.

CHAPTER I.

"GLENDENNING," said White, when they were alone, you are in an extremely awkward position, and so am I. I bore your message last evening to Lieutenant Breckenbridge. He declined receiving it on the plea that you are not a gentleman."

"Go on," said Glendenning, who had gradually, since the appearance of White, reassumed a manner perfectly composed, and who listened, without gesture and without passion, to the startling commencement of his friend's narration.

"I asked an explanation. He referred me to Colonel Nicholson. Of course, I immediately determined to call him out on my own account. On seeking a friend, I learned for the first time the whole affair, which I presume you know."

"I have heard it indirectly."

"The person to whom I applied was Captain Gresham; and what do you suppose he told me? That, until I had explained a charge against my own honour, which had been some days current in society, he must decline bearing a message for me. Your affair with Lennox, as you have already learned, is considered to have been prematurely arranged. The originator and circulator of this opinion is Colonel Nicholson. He has so managed it as to set the matter in the light in which he desired it to be seen, and certain of his intimates, tools and toad-eaters, have worked for him with a success undeniable and incredible. For two days I had felt, I could not distinctly say what or why, a certain coolness and stiffness in the manner of everybody towards me, ascribing it to my own imagination till it grew too unequivocal to be mistaken. In short, we are both cut. We are fairly in Coventry; I think most unjust

ly, and altogether in consequence of the bilious views adopted by that great potentate, Colonel Nicholson. Still that is his view, and it has produced this effect. You have now my story.'

He paused, but Glendenning made no reply. "What do you propose ?" said White.

"There is but one thing I can propose-❞

"There is! and that is to-"

"To give up my commission, and force Nicholson to

meet me.

"Ah!" said White, coolly, "that's an alternative which, I confess, had not struck me."

"Nicholson," said Glendenning, "is a malignant coward! The course he has adopted in this affair is not the result of candid conviction, but of secret vengeance. I have not been able to conceal from him the contempt in which I hold his character, and I have had the temerity to detect his meanness, without the imprudence to put myself within his reach. I allude to the challenge I proposed to send him, and his characteristic manner of backing out of the scrape. Afraid (for I shall hereafter speak openly of him) to meet me himself, he has hit upon this way to gratify his passion without personal danger, safely sheltered, as he has the folly to suppose, behind his rank."

"You have read his heart, I believe," said White, "as if you held it in your hand; but to what practical purpose I cannot pretend to discover. What particular course do you propose to pursue? I do not quite understand you."

"Immediately call him to account for the opinion he has expressed. I will write him this night."

"Give me one of those cigars, will you?" said White. "Your suggestion is not practicable. Nicholson is what you represent him; he has done what you accuse him of. His motive, I doubt not, you have correctly con strued; but he is your commanding officer. You have not the power to escape from his supervision in anything occurring while under his command; nor can you, with propriety, address him but respectfully and as your superior. Were you to do otherwise, you would do exactly what he would like the most. He could ruin you forever, and he would, too, I can tell you."

"What do you advise?" said Glendenning. "I know Nicholson is as base as he is cunning, and as revengeful as he is cowardly. Oh how my arm aches to horsewhip him!"

66

Stop, stop. Take me with you, my young friend!" said White, knocking the ashes off his cigar with his little finger nail. "It is not at all certain that Nicholson is a coward. Perhaps he would meet you gladly if he had no better way of compassing his ends. He will destroy your prospects; he will blast your name; he will break your heart, if you don't take the greatest care. But he won't now-he never will meet you."

"And what, then, do you advise?"

"You have conceived accurately many features of his character. But you are irritated; you hate him, and I think you exaggerate his bad qualities. I suspect he's a better fellow than you think him!”

"Oh!" said Glendenning, "I can bear anything but hearing him defended. Pray go on."

"I hope I have judged him more justly. He is, at least, born and bred a gentleman; he must have some gentlemanly feeling."

"Well, perhaps I am heated," said Glendenning, who began to be overmastered by an awful thought which sometimes darkly crossed his mind, and which he had thus far succeeded in avoiding any allusion to, yet which cowed and silenced him as a fiery horse is often stilled in the crisis of a storm or battle.

"I will go to him to-morrow," said White, "calmly and courteously, like a gentleman and a brother officer, request him, as your friend, to state his opinions and wishes, rectify his misconceptions, represent the matter right (for perhaps he don't really understand it), and appeal to his reason--his justice." He paused and added, "If you please, to his mercy."

Glendenning rose and paced impatiently across the

floor.

"It is, I know," said White, "not an agreeable duty; it is, in fact, a humiliation. But we must all swallow some nasty doses on our way through life. He is a peculiar fellow; but I fancy I can manage him. His understanding is weak, his heart cold, his idea of his own self-importance exaggerated. These are consti