partner. - I believe not, sir: that lady has been so obliging as
to accept my invitation. - I tell you, sir, no. Sir, I have an interest in that
lady's affections; and I will suffer no man to intrude upon my claims. - The
lady's affections are not the subject of the present question. - Sir, it is to
no purpose to parley. Make room, sir! - Mr. Falkland gently repelled his
antagonist. - Mr. Tyrrel! returned he with some firmness, let us have no
altercation in this business: the master of the ceremonies is the proper person
to decide in a difference of this sort, if we cannot adjust it: we can neither
of us intend to exhibit our valour before the ladies, and shall therefore
chearfully submit to his verdict. - Damn me, sir, if I understand - Softly, Mr.
Tyrrel; I intended you no offence. But, sir, no man shall prevent my asserting
that to which I have once acquired a claim!
    Mr. Falkland uttered these words with the most unruffled temper in the
world. The tone in which he spoke had acquired elevation, but neither roughness
nor impatience. There was a fascination in his manner, that made the
ferociousness of his antagonist subside into impotence. Miss Hardingham had
begun to repent of her experiment, but her alarm was speedily quieted by the
dignified composure of her new partner. Mr. Tyrrel walked away without answering
a word. He muttered curses as he went, which the laws of honour did not oblige
Mr. Falkland to overhear, and which indeed it would have been no easy task to
have overheard with accuracy. Mr. Tyrrel would not perhaps have so easily given
up his point, had not his own good sense presently taught him that, however
eager he might be for revenge, this was not the ground he should desire to
occupy. But, though he could not openly resent this rebellion against his
authority, he brooded over it in the recesses of a malignant mind; and it was
evident enough that he was accumulating materials for a bitter account, to which
he trusted his adversary should one day be brought.
 

                                   Chapter IV

This was only one out of innumerable instances that every day seemed to
multiply, of petty mortifications which Mr. Tyrrel was destined to endure on the
part of Mr. Falkland. In all of them Mr. Falkland conducted himself with such
unaffected propriety, as perpetually to add to the stock of his reputation. The
more Mr. Tyrrel struggled with his misfortune, the more conspicuous and
inveterate it