 and brilliancy. She had indeed no other uneasiness than what
arose from her anxiety to procure quiet to her Uncle's family, and from
her observations on the encreasing melancholy of Mrs. Stafford, for
which she knew too well how to account.

Even this, however, often appeared alleviated by her presence, and
forgotten in her conversation; and she rejoiced in the power of
affording a temporary relief to the sorrows of one whom she so truly
loved.

This calm was interrupted by Elkerton, by whom the affront he had
received at Staines, from Delamere, had not been forgotten, tho' he by
no means relished the thoughts of resenting it in the way his friend
Jackman, and all who heard of it, proposed.

To risk his life and all his finery, seemed a most cruel condition; but
Jackman protested there was no other by which he could retrieve his
honour. And his friend at whose house he was, on the borders of
Hampshire, who had been an officer in the military service of the East
India Company, and had acquired a princely fortune, felt himself
inspired with all the punctilios of a soldier, and declared to Elkerton
that if he put up with this affront no man of honour could hereafter
speak to him.

Poor Elkerton, who in the article of fighting, as well as many others,
extremely resembled '_le Bourgeois Gentilhomme_,' made all the evasions
in his power; while his _soi disant_ friends, who enjoyed his distress,
persisted in pushing him on to demand satisfaction of Delamere; but
after long debates, he determined first to ask him for an apology. There
was, he thought, some hope of obtaining it; if not, he could only in the
last extremity have recourse to the desperate expedient of a challenge.
He wrote therefore a letter to Delamere, requesting, in the civilest and
mildest terms, an apology for his behaviour at Staines; and sent it by a
servant; as it was not more than twenty miles from the house where he
was, to that Mr. Delamere had taken.

Delamere returned a contemptuous refusal; but neither mentioned the
letter to Emmeline, nor thought again about it's writer.

The unfortunate Elkerton, who reproached incessantly his evil stars for
having thrown this hot-headed boy in his way, could not conceal from his
friends the unaccommodating answer he had received to his pacific
overture; and it was agreed that Elkerton must either determine to fight
him, or be excluded from good company for ever. The challenge,
therefore, penned by the Asiatic hero, was copied with a trembling hand
by Elkerton
