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n perceived that this man was to act as Halsdt's friend; and though really glad that such an office fell not to his share, he was deeply offended on being thus, as it were, passed over. In this state of dogged anger he sat down on a tombstone, and, as if having no interest whatever in the whole proceedings, never once looked towards them. 'Norvins did not notice that the party now took the path towards the wood, nor was he conscious of the flight of time, when suddenly the loud report of two pistols, so close together as to be almost blended, rang through his ears. Then he sprang up, a dreadful pang piercing his bosom, some terrible sense of guilt he could neither fathom nor explain flashing across him. At the same instant the brushwood crashed behind him, and Van Halsdt and his companion came out; the former with his eyes glistening and his cheek flushed, the other pale and dreadfully agitated. He nodded towards Edward significantly, and Van Halsdt said, "Yes." 'Before Norvins could conjecture what this meant, the stranger approached him, and said-- '"I am sorry, sir, the sad work of this morning cannot end here; but of course you are prepared to afford my friend the only reparation in your power." '"Me! reparation! what do you mean? Afford whom?" '"Monsieur van Halsdt," said he coolly, and with a slight emphasis of contempt as he spoke. '"Monsieur van Halsdt! he never offended _me_; I never insulted, never injured _him_," said Edward, trembling at every word. '"Never injured me!" cried Van Halsdt. "Is it nothing that you have ruined me for ever; that your cowardice to resent an affront offered to one who should have been dearer than your life, a hundred times told, should have involved me in a duel with a man I swore never to meet, never to cross swords nor exchange a shot with? Is it nothing that I am to be disgraced by my king, disinherited by my father--a beggar and an exile at once? Is it nothing, sir, that the oldest name of Friesland is to be blotted from the nobles of his nation? Is it nothing that for you I should be _what I now am?_" 'The last words were uttered in a voice that made Norvins, very blood run cold; but he could not speak, he could not mutter a word in answer. '"What!" said Van Halsdt, in an accent of cutting sarcasm, "I thought that perhaps in the suddenness of the moment your courage, unprepared for an unexpected call, might not have stood your part; but can it be true that
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