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Updated: June 21, 2025
Thence we could examine this fortress, see whether we could effect a lodgment in it, and, above all, try to establish some communication with the beautiful prisoner inside. There we were, then, in the shrubbery, Lord Rufton and I, each with a pistol in the pockets of our riding coats, and with the most resolute determination in our hearts that we should not return without the lady.
Therefore, I, Etienne Gerard, their friend, would pay the debt of gratitude which I owed them by freeing them of this encumbrance. But, indeed, there was no choice in the matter, for Lord Dacre was as eager to put a bullet into me as I could be to do the same service to him. In vain Lord Rufton argued and scolded. The affair must continue.
There were months before I could be sent back to France, and during this time I stayed with this good Lord Rufton at his beautiful house of High Combe, which is at the northern end of Dartmoor.
A horse that will run, a cock that will fight, a dog that will kill rats, a man that will box they would turn away from the Emperor in all his glory in order to look upon any of these. I could tell you many stories of English sport, for I saw much of it during the time that I was the guest of Lord Rufton, after the order for my exchange had come to England.
He looked from one to the other of us with true English phlegm, and he betrayed not the slightest surprise when he was told our intention. "Quite so," said he; "quite so." "I refuse to act, Colonel Berkeley," cried Lord Rufton. "Remember, this duel cannot proceed without you, and I hold you personally responsible for anything that happens."
Yes, it is a great game this cricket, and I would gladly have ventured upon it again but Lord Rufton and Rudd said that it was late in the season, and so they would play no more.
"Well, if you must fight my guest instead of myself, let it be to-morrow morning with two witnesses," he cried, at last; "this is sheer murder across the table." "But it suits my humour, Ned," said Lord Dacre. "And mine, sir," said I. "Then I'll have nothing to do with it," cried Lord Rufton.
Ah! what thoughts of sport it brings back to me, the very name of High Combe! I can see it now, the long, low brick house, warm and ruddy, with white plaster pillars before the door. He was a great sportsman, this Lord Rufton, and all who were about him were of the same sort. But you will be pleased to hear that there were few things in which I could not hold my own, and in some I excelled.
"You sha'n't fire! Colonel Gerard, for my sake don't fire," she cried. "It is a mistake, I tell you, a mistake, a mistake! He is the best and dearest of husbands. Never again shall I leave his side." Her hands slid down my arm and closed upon my pistol. "Jane, Jane," cried Lord Rufton; "come with me. You should not be here. Come away." "It is all confoundedly irregular," said Colonel Berkeley.
'Well, strike me! said the Bustler. 'I don't often break my trainin', but when it comes to givin' up my clothes to a Frenchy who couldn't hit a dint in a pat o' butter, why, it's more than I can swaller. 'Pooh, man, what are the clothes worth? D'you know that Lord Rufton alone has five thousand pounds on you?
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