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Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 230, 27 June 1872, Page 9

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When I was a schoolboy, more than fifty years ago, I remember to have read a story which may have been a fiction, but which was very naturally told, and made a deep impression upon me then. I will endeavour to draw it forth from the locker of my memory, and relate it as nearly as I can recollect.

Tbves young gentlemen, who had finished the most substantial part of the repast, were lingering over their fruit and wine, at a tavern in London, when a man of middle age and middle stature entered the public room, where they they were sitting, seated himself at o'.ie end of a small unoccupied table, and calling the waiter, ordered a simple mutton chop' and a glass of ale. His appearance, at first view, was not likely to ar?*est the attention of any one. His hair was beginning to be thin and gray, the expression of his countenance was sedate, with a slight touch of melancholy ; and he wore a gray surtout, with a standing collar, which manifestly had seen service, if the wearer had not — just such a thing as an officer would bestow upon his serving man. He might be taken, plausibly enough, for a country magistrate, or an attorney of limited practice, or a schoolmaster.

He continued to masticate his chop and sip his ale in silence?, without lifting bis eyes from the table, until a cherry-stone, sportively snapped from the thumb and finger of one of the gentlemen at the opposite table, scruck him upon his right ear. His eye was instantly upon the aggressor, and his ready intelligence gathered from the ill-suppressed, merriment of the party that this petty importiuece was intentional.

I The stranger stooped, and picked up the cherry stone, and a scarcely perceptible smile passed over his features, as he carefully wrappod it up in a piece of paper, aud placed it in his pocket. This singular procedure, with.

their preconceived impressions of their customer, somewhat elevated as the young gentlemen wero by the wine they had partaken of, capsized their gravity entirely, and a burst of irresistible laughter proceeded from the group. Unmoved by this rudeness, the stranger continued to finish his frugal repast in quietness, until another cherry-stone from the same hand, struck him upon the right elbow. This also, to tho infinite amusement of the other party, he picked from the floor, deposited with the first. Amidst shouts of laughter, a third cherry-stone was soon after discharged, which hit him upon the left breast. This also he very deliberately took from the floor, and deposited it with tho other two.

As ho rose, and was engaged in paying for his repast, the gaiety of these sporting gentlemen became slightly subdued. It was not so easy to account for this. Lavater would not have been able to detect the slightest evidence of irritation or resentment upon the features of the stranger. ll© seemed a little taller, to be sure, and the carnage of his head might have appeared to them rather more erect, lie walked to the table at which they were sitting, anil, with that air of dignified calmness, Avhich is a thousand times more terrible than wrath, drew a card from his pocket and presented it with perfect civility to the. offender, who could do no less than offer his in return. "While the stranger unclosed his surtout to take the card from out of his pocket, they had a glance at the undress coat of a military man. The card disclosed his rank, and a brief enquiry at the bar was sufficient for tho rest. lie was a captain whom ill-health and long servico had entitled him to half-pay. In earlier life he had been engaged in several affairs of honour, and in the dialect of the fancy was a dead shot. The next morning a note arrived at the aggressor's residence, containing a challenge, in form, and. one of the cherry-stones. The truth then flashed before the challenged party — it was the challenger's intention to make three bites at this cherry — three separate affairs out of this unwarrantable frolic! Tho cliallengeMvas accepted, and the challenged party, in deference to the challenger's reputed skill with the pistol, had half decided upon the small-sword ; but his friends, who were on the alert, soon discovered that the captain, who had risen by his merit, had in the earlier days of his necessity gained his bread as an accomplished instructor in the use of that weapon. They met and fired alternately by lot — the young man had selected t'ns mode, thinking to win the first firo— he did — fired, and missed his opponent. The captain levelled his pistol and fired. The ball passed through the flap of the right ear, aud grazed tho bone, aud, as the wounded man involuntarily put his hand to the place, he remembered that it was on the right ear of his antagonist that the cherry-stone had fallen. Here ended the first lesson. A month had passed. His friends chorislied the hope that they would hear nothing more from the captain, when another note — a challenge of course — and another of those accursed cherry-stones arrived, with the captain's apology, on the score of ill-health, for not sending it before. Again they met — fired simultaneously, and the captain, who was uninjured, shattered the right elbow of his antagonist — the very point upon which he had been struck by the cherry-stone, and hero ended the second lesson. There was something awfully impressive ill the modus operantli and exquisite skill of his antagonist. The third cherry-stone was still in hi* possession, and the aggrossor had" not forgotten that it had struck the unoffending gentleman upon the left breast. A month bad passed — another — and another of terrible suspense ; but nothing was heard from the captain. Intelligence bad been received that he was confined to his lodgings by illness. At length the gentleman who had been his second in the former duels once more presented himself, and tendered another note, which, as the recipient perceived on taking it, contained the last of the cherry-stones. The note was superscribed in the captain's well known hand, but it was the writing evidently of one who* wrote feebly. There was an unusual solemnity also in the manner of him who delivered it. The seal was broken, and there was the cherry-stone in a blank envelope. "And what, sir, am Ito understand by this?" inquired the asjgressor. " You will understand, sir, that my friend forgives you — ho is dead." Hollo way 's Fills. — Weak stoma ch. — The wisest cannot enumerate one quarter of the distressing symptoms arising from enfeebled digestion, all of which might be readil) dispelled by tliese admirable Pills. They remove all unpleasant tastes from the mouth, flatulency and constipation. Holloway's Pills rouse the stomach, liver, and every other organ, helping digestion to that healthy tone which fully enables it to convert all we eat and drink to the nourishment of our bodies. Hence these Pills are the surest strengtheners, and the safest restoratives in nervousness, wasting, and chronic debility. Holloway's Pills are infallible remedies for impaired appetite, eructations, and a multitude of other disagreeable symptoms, which render miserable the lives, of th,ausa_n.da, .