words, 'I know that a certain pair of eyes keeps
Countess Angela in Pesth,' and before I had time to make the answer
agreed upon, Ivan threw down the gauntlet. 'That is a lie!' he said."

"Ah!" cried Angela, while an electric thrill ran through her veins.

"We all sprang to our feet; the joke had ended badly. Salista grew
pale; he had not counted upon this. 'Sir,' he said to Behrend, 'take
back that word of yours; it is a word that in my life no man has said
to me.'"

"And Behrend?" asked Angela, seizing Edmund's hand.

"Behrend stood up from the table, and answered quietly, in a cold
voice, 'It is possible that up to the present you have given no
occasion for this reproach to be cast in your face; but to-night I
repeat that you have lied.' Then he left the room. I ran after him to
try and smooth down matters. I met him in the hall. He turned to me
and said, quietly, 'My dear friend, you know what must now happen. I
beg that you will ask Count Geza in my name, and that you and he will
be my seconds. You will communicate to me what has been settled; all
is in your hands.' In this way he invited me to play the part which I
had destined for him. Now he is the duellist, and I am the second. I
tried to drive him into a corner. I represented to him that it was not
his right to throw down the gauntlet for the Countess Angela. He
answered, 'It is the right and the duty of every gentleman to protect
the lady whose guest he is.' This answer, from a chivalrous point of
view, is perfectly correct, but it sounds strangely from the lips of
the man who a couple of hours ago told us there was no one in the
world for whose good name he would fight a duel."

Angela sank back in her chair. "Oh, what terrible folly it has all
been!" she wailed. "No, no, this duel cannot be! I shall prevent it!"

"I wish you would tell me what means you intend to take to prevent
it."

"I will at once speak with Ivan Behrend--this moment; do you hear?"

"Unfortunately, that is impossible. When he left me he gave the order
to put his horses to. There, you hear those wheels? That is his
carriage. Geza has gone with him, and we four are to follow him
presently. One cannot arrange this sort of thing in a strange house;
that is done only on the stage. The principals must wait in their own
houses to hear what we have decided to do."

"But, my God! I will not let it be done; do you hear? I will speak to
Uncle Stefan."

"I have told you everything, so th