I am his nearest male relative,
and I have no ties to bind me and keep me from doing a man's part in this
matter; it seems my duty. I do not want to kill the wretch, though he
deserves to die; I do not want to kill him! I think I would far rather he
killed me! But I cannot help it! I must call him out, and he must take the
risk! I must avenge Odalite!"

His conscience again spoke:

"Vengeance is mine, and I will repay, saith the Lord."

Luke, an old servant attached to the plantation, came in and laid fresh
logs on the fire, and then went out again.

But Le, absorbed in his argument with his own conscience, never noticed
the man's entrance or his exit.

"The die is cast now," he said, in conclusion, "and I must abide the
issue. The challenge is sent. The scoundrel is a soldier, and he will
accept it! I must meet him! And, if I kill him, I must take the
consequences in this world and--in the next!"

Martha, the housekeeper, came in with a large tray on which she had
arranged her master's supper. She set it down on a side table, while she
removed the books and stationary from the center table and spread a white
cloth over it. Then she set out his supper, and said:

"Do, please, young marster, try to eat somefin'. That racket at the church
seems to hev upset yer so that yer look downright ill."

Le was feverish and thirsty, and he drank cup after cup of tea, nearly as
fast as the housekeeper could pour it out. But he could not eat a morsel.

"'Deed, I'm feared yer gwine to have some sort of a fever, young marster!
'Deed, I am!" said Martha, as she began to clear the table, after finding
all her persuasions fruitless to induce the young man to eat.

When the woman was gone, Le replaced all the paper, pens and ink upon the
table again, and sat down, poor fellow, to write his "last will and
testament."

It was very short and plain. He left all his real estate and personal
property to his three dear cousins, Odalite, Wynnette and Elva, daughters
of his dear relative, Abel Force, of Mondreer, share and share alike,
subject only to some trifling legacies to old servants and to a bequest of
ten thousand dollars to his dear friend Roland Bayard, of Forest Rest; and
he constituted Abel Force and Roland Bayard joint executors.

Next he wrote farewell letters to his friends and relatives.

All this work kept him up long after midnight. When it was finished, he
gathered all the documents together and took them with him