"
"That is a lie," said John Christie, bluntly.
"How, you base villain!" said Lord Glenvarloch--"do you presume on my
situation? If it were not that I hold you mad, and perhaps made so by
some wrong sustained, you should find my being weaponless were no
protection, I would beat your brains out against the wall."
"Ay, ay," answered Christie, "bully as ye list. Ye have been at the
ordinaries, and in Alsatia, and learned the ruffian's rant, I doubt
not. But I repeat, you have spoken an untruth, when you said you knew
not of my wife's falsehood; for, when you were twitted with it among
your gay mates, it was a common jest among you, and your lordship took
all the credit they would give you for your gallantry and gratitude."
There was a mixture of truth in this part of the charge which
disconcerted Lord Glenvarloch exceedingly; for he could not, as a man
of honour, deny that Lord Dalgarno, and others, had occasionally
jested with him on the subject of Dame Nelly, and that, though he had
not played exactly _le fanfaron des vices qu'il n'avoit pas_, he had
not at least been sufficiently anxious to clear himself of the
suspicion of such a crime to men who considered it as a merit. It was
therefore with some hesitation, and in a sort of qualifying tone, that
he admitted that some idle jests had passed upon such a supposition,
although without the least foundation in truth.
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