will happen!' 'Oh!' he answered, 'there is no danger; but if
by any chance--well, there is a letter in my pocket.' 'And if you should
kill him?' I said. 'But I shall not,' he answered slyly: 'do you think I
am going to fire at him? No, no; he is too young.' 'But,' I said, 'I--'I
am not going to stand that!' 'Yes,' he replied, 'I owe him a shot; but
there is no danger--not the least danger.' We had arrived; already they
were there. Ah bah! You know the preliminaries, the politeness--this
duelling, you know, it is absurd, after all. We placed them at twenty
paces. It is not a bad place. There are pine-trees round, and rocks; at
that hour it was cool and grey as a church. I handed him the pistol. How
can I describe him to you, standing there, smoothing the barrel with his
fingers! 'What a beautiful thing a good pistol!' he said. 'Only a fool
or a madman throws away his life,' I said. 'Certainly,' he replied,
'certainly; but there is no danger,' and he regarded me, raising his
moustachette.

"There they stood then, back to back, with the mouths of their pistols
to the sky. 'Un!' I cried, 'deux! tirez!' They turned, I saw the smoke
of his shot go straight up like a prayer; his pistol dropped. I ran to
him. He looked surprised, put out his hand, and fell into my arms. He
was dead. Those fools came running up. 'What is it?' cried one. I made
him a bow. 'As you see,' I said; 'you have made a pretty shot. My friend
fired in the air. Messieurs, you had better breakfast in Italy.' We
carried him to the carriage, and covered him with a rug; the others
drove for the frontier. I brought him to his room. Here is his letter."
Jules stopped; tears were running down his face. "He is dead; I have
closed his eyes. Look here, you know, we are all of us cads--it is the
rule; but this--this, perhaps, was the exception." And without another
word he rushed away....

Outside the old fellow's lodging a dismounted cocher was standing
disconsolate in the sun. "How was I to know they were going to fight
a duel?" he burst out on seeing me. "He had white hair--I call you
to witness he had white hair. This is bad for me: they will ravish my
licence. Aha! you will see--this is bad for me!" I gave him the slip and
found my way upstairs. The old fellow was alone, lying on the bed, his
feet covered with a rug as if he might feel cold; his eyes were closed,
but in this sleep of death, he still had that air of faint surprise. At
full length, watching the b