th a cigar. I had just arisen, to follow
his example, when a furious uproar burst out at the card table.

I saw Romayne spring up, and snatch the cards out of the General's hand.
"You scoundrel!" he shouted, "you are cheating!" The General started to
his feet in a fury. "You lie!" he cried. I attempted to interfere,
but Romayne had already seen the necessity of controlling himself. "A
gentleman doesn't accept an insult from a swindler," he said, coolly.
"Accept this, then!" the General answered--and spat on him. In an
instant Romayne knocked him down.

The blow was dealt straight between his eyes: he was a gross big-boned
man, and he fell heavily. For the time he was stunned. The women ran,
screaming, out of the room. The peaceable Commander trembled from head
to foot. Two of the men present, who, to give them their due, were
no cowards, locked the doors. "You don't go," they said, "till we see
whether he recovers or not." Cold water, assisted by the landlady's
smelling salts, brought the General to his senses after a while. He
whispered something to one of his friends, who immediately turned to me.
"The General challenges Mr. Romayne," he said. "As one of his seconds,
I demand an appointment for to-morrow morning." I refused to make any
appointment unless the doors were first unlocked, and we were left free
to depart. "Our carriage is waiting outside," I added. "If it returns
to the hotel without us, there will be an inquiry." This latter
consideration had its effect. On their side, the doors were opened. On
our side, the appointment was made. We left the house.

IV.

IN consenting to receive the General's representative, it is needless to
say that I merely desired to avoid provoking another quarrel. If those
persons were really impudent enough to call at the hotel, I had arranged
to threaten them with the interference of the police, and so to put an
end to the matter. Romayne expressed no opinion on the subject, one way
or the other. His conduct inspired me with a feeling of uneasiness. The
filthy insult of which he had been made the object seemed to be rankling
in his mind. He went away thoughtfully to his own room. "Have you
nothing to say to me?" I asked. He only answered: "Wait till to-morrow."

The next day the seconds appeared.

I had expected to see two of the men with whom we had dined. To my
astonishment, the visitors proved to be officers of the General's
regiment. They brought proposals for a hostile