Part 13 (1/2)

The hermit of that Thebaide rose to greet his two visitors, and pointing out to Chap.r.o.n an open volume on his table, he said to him:

”I was thinking of you. It is Chateauvillars's book on duelling. It contains a code which is not very complete. I recommend it to you, however, if ever you have to fulfil a mission like ours,” and he pointed to Dorsenne and himself, with a gesture which const.i.tuted the most amicable of acceptations. ”It seems you had too hasty a hand.... Ha!

ha! Do not defend yourself. Such as you see me, at twenty-one I threw a plate in the face of a gentleman who bantered Comte de Chambord before a number of Jacobins at a table d'hote in the provinces. See,” continued he, raising his white moustache and disclosing a scar, ”this is the souvenir. The fellow was once a dragoon; he proposed the sabre. I accepted, and this is what I got, while he lost two fingers.... That will not happen to us this time at least.... Dorsenne has told you our conditions.”

”And I replied that I was sure I could not intrust my honor to better hands,” replied Florent.

”Cease!” replied Montfanon, with a gesture of satisfaction. ”No more phrases. It is well. Moreover, I judged you, sir, from the day on which you spoke to me at Saint Louis. You honor your dead. That is why I shall be happy, very happy, to be useful to you.”

”Now tell me very clearly the recital you made to Dorsenne.”

Then Florent related concisely that which had taken place between him and Gorka--that is to say, their argument and his pa.s.sion, carefully omitting the details in which the name of his brother-in-law would be mixed.

”The deuce!” said Montfanon, familiarly, ”the affair looks bad, very bad.... You see, a second is a confessor. You have had a discussion in the street with Monsieur Gorka, but about what? You can not reply? What did he say to you to provoke you to the point of wis.h.i.+ng to strike him?

That is the first key to the position.”

”I can not reply,” said Florent.

”Then,” resumed the Marquis, after a silence, ”there only remains to a.s.sert that the gesture on your part was--how shall I say? Unmeditated and unfinished. That is the second key to the position.... You have no special grudge against Monsieur Gorka?”

”None.”

”Nor he against you?”

”None.”

”The affair looks better,” said Montfanon, who was silent for a time, to resume, in the voice of a man who is talking to himself, ”Count Gorka considers himself offended? But is there any offence? It is that which we should discuss.... An a.s.sault or the threat of an a.s.sault would afford occasion for an arrangement.... But a gesture restrained, since it was not carried into effect.... Do not interrupt me,” he continued.

”I am trying to understand it clearly.... We must arrive at a solution.

We shall have to express our regret, leaving the field open to another reparation, if Gorka requires it.... And he will not require it. The entire problem now rests on the choice of his seconds.... Whom will he select?”

”I have already received visits from them,” said Florent. ”Half an hour ago. One is Prince d'Ardea.”

”He is a gentleman,” replied Montfanon. ”I shall not be sorry to see him to tell him my feelings with regard to the public sale of his palace, to which he should never have allowed himself to be driven.... And the other?”

”The other?” interrupted Dorsenne. ”Prepare yourself for a blow.... I swear to you I did not know his name when I went in search of you at the catacomb. It is--in short--it is Baron Hafner.”

”Baron Hafner!” exclaimed Montfanon. ”Boleslas Gorka, the descendant of the Gorkas, of that grand Luc Gorka who was Palatine of Posen and Bishop of Cujavie, has chosen for his second Monsieur Justus Hafner, the thief, the scoundrel, who had the disgraceful suit!... No, Dorsenne, do not tell me that; it is not possible.” Then, with the air of a combatant: ”We will challenge him; that is all, for his lack of honor. I take it upon myself, as well as to tell of his deeds to Boleslas. We will spend an enjoyable quarter of an hour there, I promise you.”

”You will not do that,” said Dorsenne, quickly. ”First, with regard to official honor, there is only one law, is there not? Hafner was acquitted and his adversaries condemned. You told me so the other day.... And then, you forget the conversation we just had.”

”Pardon,” interrupted Florent, in his turn. ”Monsieur de Montfanon, in promising to a.s.sist me, has done me a great honor, which I shall never forget. If there should result from it any annoyance to him I should be deeply grieved, and I am ready to release him from his promise.”

”No,” said the Marquis, after another silence. ”I will not take it back.”.... He was so magnanimous when his two or three hobbies were not involved that the slightest delicacy awoke an echo in him. He again extended his hand to Chap.r.o.n and continued, but with an accent which betrayed suppressed irritation: ”After all, it does not concern us if Monsieur Gorka has chosen to be represented in an affair of honor by one whom he should not even salute.... You will, then, give our two names to those two gentlemen.... and Dorsenne and I will await them, as is the rule.... It is their place to come, since they are the proxies of the person insulted.”

”They have already arranged a meeting for this evening,” replied Chap.r.o.n.

”What's arranged? With whom? For whom?” exclaimed Montfanon, a prey to a fresh access of choler. ”With you?... For us?... Ah, I do not like such conduct where such grave matters are concerned.... The code is absolute on that subject.... Their challenge once made, to which you, Monsieur Chap.r.o.n, have to reply by yes or no, these gentlemen should withdraw immediately.... It is not your fault, it is Ardea's, who has allowed that dabbler in spurious dividends to perform his part of intriguer....

But we will rectify all in the right way, which is the French.... And where is the rendezvous?”

”I will read to you the letter which the Baron left for me with Florent,” said Dorsenne, who indeed read the very courteous note Hafner had written to him, in which he excused himself for choosing his own house as a rendezvous for the four witnesses. ”One can not ignore so polite a note.”

”There are too many dear sirs, and too many compliments,” said Montfanon, brusquely. ”Sit here,” he continued, relinquis.h.i.+ng his armchair to Florent, ”and inform the two men of our names and address, adding that we are at their service and ignoring the first inaccuracy on their part. Let them return!... And you, Dorsenne, since you are afraid of wounding that gentleman, I will not prevent you from going to his house--personally, do you hear--to warn him that Monsieur Chap.r.o.n, here present, has chosen for his first second a disagreeable person, an old duellist, anything you like, but who desires strict form, and, first of all, a correct call made upon us by them, in order to settle officially upon a rendezvous.”