Why had Colonel Stewart voted against
him? He would have expected the Colonel's vote sooner than anybody's,
and he took it ill that it had not been given to him. Colonel Stewart
explained that as he lay under very great obligations to Sir Patrick
Scott and his family, he considered that he had no choice but to vote as
he had done; but this did not satisfy Sir Gilbert; the vote _should_
have been his by rights, and all the efforts of Captain Ross as
peacemaker could not keep him from harping on this one string--the
supposed slight put upon him in the matter of the vote. Colonel Stewart
was more than willing to drop the subject, and at last Captain Ross,
thinking the matter settled, momentarily turned away, in an endeavour to
stop the monotony of Timpendean's tuneless, dreary song.
And then the mischief began. Sir Gilbert used words which, owing to
Timpendean's noise, Ross did not catch, but he heard Colonel Stewart's
reply: "Pray, Sir Gilbert, you have said a great deal already to provoke
me; don't provoke me further." Then more hot words from Eliott, and
Colonel Stewart threw a glass of wine in the baronet's face. With that,
Eliott started to his feet, drew his sword, and plunged it into
Stewart's stomach before the latter could rise from his chair or defend
himself in any way.
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