Part 1 (2/2)
”And,” added the older man, ”the countess hopes you'll come to breakfast afterward at ten.”
”I'll be there, never fear,” said I, ”and it's very kind.”
”Bravo!” said the young man, clapping me on the shoulder (for we had risen from table). ”You take it the right way.”
As may be supposed, I was rather puzzled by this time, and decidedly vexed to find I should have to be up so early. Still, the mention of His Royal Highness and the countess decided me to go on for the present; probably the real man--for, unless it were all a mad joke, there must be a real man--would appear in the course of the evening. I only hoped my new friends would, in their turn, take it in the right way when that happened.
”Have you a servant with you?” asked the young man, as we said good-night.
”No,” said I; ”I am quite alone.”
”You are a paragon of prudence,” he answered, smiling. ”Well, I'll call you, and we'll slip out quietly.”
Just as I was getting into bed, the waiter knocked at my door and gave me a note. It bore no address.
”Is it for me?” I asked.
”Yes, sir,” he answered. ”You are the gentleman who dined with Herr Vooght and M. Dumergue?”
I supposed I was, and opened the note.
”You are generous and forgiving, indeed,” it said (and said it in English). ”What reward will you claim? But do be careful. He is dangerous.--M.”
”The devil!” I exclaimed.
The next morning I was aroused at five o'clock by my two friends.
”Good-morning, Herr Vooght,” said I, looking just between them.
”Good-morning,” answered the older man.
”Now, my dear fellow, come along. There's a cup of coffee downstairs,”
said the other, whom I took to be Dumergue.
After coffee, we got into a close carriage with a pair of horses, and drove two or three miles into the country; my companions said little.
Dumergue twice asked in a joking way how I felt, and Vooght puzzled me very much by remarking:
”They are bringing all the necessaries; but I don't know what they will choose.”
When this was said, Dumergue was humming a tune. He went on for five minutes, and then said, with a touch of scorn:
”My good Vooght, they know our friend's reputation. They will choose pistols.”
I could not repress a start. No doubt it was stupid of me not to have caught the meaning of this early expedition before, but it really never struck me that our business might be a duel. However, so it seemed, and apparently I was one of the princ.i.p.als. Dumergue noticed my little start.
”What's the matter?” he asked.
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