Part 33 (1/2)

The court of honour endorsed the challenge but it modified the terms, arranging that instead of three interchanges of shots there should be two, at fifteen paces. The duel was to take place early the next morning, at half-past five, on the pistol-practice ground of the regiment.

After Reimers had presented the challenge to Landsberg, he made all the necessary arrangements to act as his friend's second. He whispered the time and the place to Guntz while at the table in the orderly-room signing despatches.

The senior-lieutenant nodded curtly, and answered: ”Right; I'll speak to you later.”

Sergeant-major Heppner approached him, and said: ”At what time to-morrow morning do you wish the battery to be ready for the tactical exercises, sir?”

Guntz was at once on the spot. He signed the order and leant back.

”To-morrow? H'm!” he murmured.

The duel was to take place at half-past five. He considered; in a quarter of an hour one could easily cover the short distance between the shooting-ground and the barracks.

”Six sharp,” he then answered decisively.

Heppner replied: ”Yes, sir, six o'clock;” and wrote the time in the order-book.

”Yes, six o'clock,” repeated Guntz.

If it were no longer possible for him, then Reimers would command the battery.

It was Wednesday, the day on which Reimers was engaged to dine with the Guntzes. He would have excused himself, so that his friend should devote himself undisturbed to his wife and child, but Guntz refused: ”Nothing of the kind, my boy. Why, Klare might smell a rat! No, no! you must come. But you'll have to put on another expression, you know!”

So Reimers went, but left unusually early, and when he returned to his quarters Gahler handed him a letter from Falkenhein.

The colonel wrote as follows:

”MY DEAR REIMERS,--I return from Kuhren about eleven o'clock, and I beg of you to look me up this evening without fail.

”Yours, ”v. F.”

Here was a glimmer of hope! Perhaps this wretched duel might yet be avoided! The colonel of a regiment had in certain cases the right to suspend the judgment of the court of honour, and to refer the matter directly to the throne for a decision.

Frankly, Reimers could not think on what, in this case, such interference could be based. The affair seemed just as clear and distinct as could well be; a verbal quarrel whence resulted the actual insult, which, though not serious, left not the smallest loophole for a revocation. The duel seemed utterly inevitable.

Falkenhein was already waiting for him. The firm, clear-headed man was in a state of almost feverish excitement. He walked restlessly up and down the room, constantly b.u.t.toning and unb.u.t.toning a b.u.t.ton of his coat.

”Thank you for coming, my dear Reimers,” he said in a voice of forced steadiness, and speaking in jerky sentences. ”Tell me, you are his second to-morrow, are you not?”

”Yes, sir,” answered Reimers.

”It is a good thing that you will be there. Yes, it is a good thing.

I--I felt I must speak to you about it. It is true that a commander should come to his decisions alone, and I have done that--but now I must speak to some-one. I have not been to Kuhren; I sent the carriage away, and have been walking in the forest for a long time, and alone.

This duel--it is a mistake, a terrible mistake; that's certain. But my hands are tied. I can do nothing to prevent it. And yet if things go badly, I shall be partially responsible. My best officer, one of the best, most excellent of men, against a lazy ne'er-do-weel! G.o.d knows that laws are sometimes utterly unreasonable, and many of our ideas are equally senseless. I have racked my brains to find a way out of this difficulty, and it seems impossible. I know that Landsberg's real reason is military antagonism; but despite that, I dare not interfere.”

The colonel stopped suddenly right in front of the lieu-tenant, and looking him squarely in the eyes, asked: ”Do you really think that Guntz's honour is affected?”

Reimers was silent. A ”yes” seemed to him quite contrary to reason, and yet he could not say ”no.”