kill
her. The thought of any desperate step seemed impossible.

The question of love at that point in Orange's life had therefore been
decided as much by conditions as it had by principles and conscience.
But with the Castrillon difficulty, it was a question of hatred--not
love. In hate, Orange was as little given to brooding as he was in other
matters. He had never been able to forgive the duel at Loadilla which
had occasioned so much scandal in Madrid, and brought Brigit's name into
bad company. Robert, before his meeting with Mrs. Parflete, had fought
several duels, and each of them about a different pretty face.
Encounters of the kind form part of a youth's education on the
Continent: such experiences are considered not romantic, not heroic, not
striking, but merely usual and manly. It was impossible for one brought
up in this view to feel that duelling--under certain provocation and
fair conditions--was wrong. The custom was frequently abused, no doubt,
yet the same could be said of all customs, and Orange, rightly or
wrongly, held a conviction on the subject which no argument could
affect. But, with a lover's unreasonableness, he had found the fight
between Bodava and Castrillon an insult to the lady at stake. He
suspected, too, that Castrillon had spoken lightly of her to General
Prim, to Zeuill, perhaps to d'Alchingen. This was insufferable, and so,
inasmuch as the mischief had been done, he would not and could not
remain outside the combat. There seemed, also, a certain feeling at the
Clubs where the Madrid scandal had become known, that Castrillon, on
the whole, had proved a more dashing, and was probably the favoured,
suitor. Orange, whose personal courage had been demonstrated too often
to be called into doubt, had been criticised for an absence of moral, or
rather immoral, courage with regard to Mrs. Parflete. Reckage's sly
phrases about the ecclesiastical temperament; the sneers of some
adventurous women on the subject of platonic affection; the good-natured
brow-lifting of the wits and the worldly were not easy to bear for a man
who was, by nature, impulsive, by nature, regardless of every sacrifice
and all opinions while a strong purpose remained unfulfilled. Robert
made up his mind that, come what might, whether his action was approved
or blamed, or whether he won or lost, pick some quarrel he would, and
see how Castrillon liked it, and thus settle the matter then and for
always. Castrillon had receive