kill him, and yet he had deserved
nothing but good at their hands.

So goes the world!

CHAPTER XV

TWO POINTS

A duel with swords has this distinct advantage over a duel with
pistols: you need have no concealment concerning it; the day before it
is spoken of as an interesting wager would be. In former times it
happened rarely that a duel with swords had a fatal ending, and
therefore it is surrounded with none of the mystery that attends the
more serious affair; for the seconds, likewise, there is far less
responsibility. If a principal gets severely hurt, the attending
surgeon declares that the sufferer has not died of the wound, but that
there was some trouble in the organism which would have probably
killed him within the next forty-eight hours. And who, nowadays, would
make a fuss over a man who was doomed to die in forty-eight hours?

The duel which was to take place between the Marquis Salista and Ivan
was spoken of at the club with indifference, as a thing that had a
foregone conclusion. Salista spoke most of it himself, and at six
o'clock the evening before stood at the chimney-piece and entertained
a select group of friends, among whom were the four seconds, with his
ideas on the subject.

The golden youth of Pesth, being in the habit of having constant
fencing-bouts at the different gymnasiums, know well who is the most
skilful fencer, and are therefore able to predicate, accurately enough
in many cases, what the result will be. Salista had the reputation of
being a first-rate swordsman; he had already fought several duels, and
always been the victor; he had one particular stroke, a master-stroke,
which few fencers could parry; it was a quick thrust in the stomach,
which, passing round the point of his adversary's sword, ripped up his
abdomen. If the other intercepted the thrust, he was likely to get out
of time, so that his face, being left uncovered, was exposed to a
well-delivered thrust which would spoil his beauty, if it did not have
more dangerous consequences. Some men would have felt that the
circumstances connected with the preceding duel required explanation,
that the refusal to stand your adversary's fire had a doubtful sound.
For a similar offence others had been rigorously punished by having to
leave Vienna for some weeks, and being sometimes kept in Coventry even
longer. Salista was, however, a privileged person; his courage was not
called in question. He was, moreover, a cool han