 polite manner, with which the French general had eluded every attempt of
Heyward to worm from him the purport of the communication he had proposed
making, or on the decided, though still polished message, by which he now gave
his enemy to understand, that unless he chose to receive it in person, he should
not receive it at all. As Munro listened to the detail of Duncan, the excited
feelings of the father gradually gave way before the obligations of his station,
and when the other was done, he saw before him nothing but the veteran, swelling
with the wounded feelings of a soldier.
    »You have said enough, Major Heyward!« exclaimed the angry old man; »enough
to make a volume of commentary on French civility! Here has this gentleman
invited me to a conference, and when I send him a capable substitute, for ye're
all that Duncan, though your years are but few, he answers me with a riddle!«
    »He may have thought less favourably of the substitute, my dear sir; and you
will remember that the invitation, which he now repeats, was to the commandant
of the works, and not to his second.«
    »Well, sir, is not a substitute clothed with all the power and dignity of
him who grants the commission! He wishes to confer with Munro! Faith, sir, I
have much inclination to indulge the man, if it should only be to let him behold
the firm countenance we maintain, in spite of his numbers and his summons! There
might be no bad policy in such a stroke, young man.«
    Duncan, who believed it of the last importance, that they should speedily
come at the contents of the letter borne by the scout, gladly encouraged this
idea.
    »Without doubt, he could gather no confidence by witnessing our
indifference,« he said.
    »You never said truer word. I could wish, sir, that he would visit the works
in open day, and in the form of a storming party: that is the least failing
method of proving the countenance of an enemy, and would be far preferable to
the battering system he has chosen. The beauty and manliness of warfare has been
much deformed, Major Heyward, by the arts of your Monsieur Vauban. Our ancestors
were far above such scientific cowardice!«
    »It may be very true, sir; but we are, now, obliged to repel art by art.
What is your pleasure in the matter of the interview?«
    »I will meet the Frenchman, and that without fear or delay; promptly
