"
"That it shall never be," said Ravenswood, fiercely; "if I am the last
who must bear it, I owe it to those who once owned it that the name
shall be extinguished without infamy. I accept your challenge, time, and
place of meeting. We meet, I presume, alone?"
"Alone we meet," said Colonel Ashton, "and alone will the survivor of us
return from that place of rendezvous."
"Then God have mercy on the soul of him who falls!" said Ravenswood.
"So be it!" said Colonel Ashton; "so far can my charity reach even for
the man I hate most deadly, and with the deepest reason. Now, break off,
for we shall be interrupted. The links by the sea-shore to the east of
Wolf's Hope; the hour, sunrise; our swords our only weapons."
"Enough," said the Master, "I will not fail you."
They separated; Colonel Ashton joining the rest of the mourners, and the
Master of Ravenswood taking his horse, which was tied to a tree behind
the church. Colonel Ashton returned to the castle with the funeral
guests, but found a pretext for detaching himself from them in the
evening, when, changing his dress to a riding-habit, he rode to Wolf's
Hope, that night, and took up his abode in the little inn, in order that
he might be ready for his rendezvous in the morning.
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