“ ‘No, I do not, fellow,’ rejoined my uncle. ‘Only, if this is a private room specially ordered for the occasion, I should think the public room must be a very comfortable one’; with this, my uncle sat himself down in a high-backed chair, and took such an accurate measure of the gentleman, with his eyes, that Tiggin and Welps could have supplied him with printed calico for a suit, and not an inch too much or too little, from that estimate alone.

“ ‘Quit this room,’ said both men together, grasping their swords.

“ ‘Eh?’ said my uncle, not at all appearing to comprehend their meaning.

“ ‘Quit the room, or you are a dead man,’ said the ill-looking fellow with the large sword, drawing it at the same time and flourishing it in the air.

“ ‘Down with him!’ cried the gentleman in sky-blue, drawing his sword also, and falling back two or three yards. ‘Down with him!’ The lady gave a loud scream.