Volume VI Part 101 (1/2)
”What have you got to say?”
”If you leave my house in this fashi+on you will dishonour me, and I will not allow it”
”Excuseto prevent o by yourself; we ether”
”Certainly; I understand you perfectly Get your sword or your pistols, and ill start directly There is rooe”
”That won't do You e”
”You make a mistake I should be a fool if I dined with you when our e; to-morroill have reached Gorice”
”If you won't dine with me, I will dine with you, and people o after dinner, so send away that conveyance”
I had to give in to hi to persuade ht to beat a country-wo
I laughed, and said I wondered how he derived his right to beat a free wo her lover had no right to protect her was a monstrous one
”She had just left my arms,” I continued, ”was I not therefore her natural protector? Only a coward or a h, indeed, I believe that even you would have done the same”
A few minutes before we sat down to dinner he said that neither of us would profit by the adventure, as he ree with you as far as I aht or not fight, as you please; for my part I have had satisfaction If we co, though I shall do my best to lay you up for a considerable time, so that you may have leisure to reflect on your folly On the other hand, if fortune favours you, you o into the wood by ourselves, and my coachman shall have orders to drive you wherever you like if you coood indeed; and which would you prefer--swords or pistols?”
”Swords, I think”
”Then I proe”
I was astonished to find the usually brutal count become quite polite at the prospect of a duel I felt perfectly confidenthie Then I could escape through Venetian territory where I was not known
But I had good reasons for supposing that the duel would end in smoke as so many other duels when one of the parties is a coward, and a coward I believed the count to be
We started after an excellent dinner; the count having no luggage, and e
I took care to draw the charges of my pistols before the count
I had heard him tell the coachman to drive towards Gorice, but every moment I expected to hear hiht settle our differences
I asked no questions, feeling that the initiative lay with hiates of Gorice, and I burst out laughing when I heard the count order the coachot there he said,--
”You were in the right; we must remain friends Proave hi was over