at he had four
minutes in which to make up his mind. The events of the last thirty
minutes had pressed upon each other's heels with such surprising
alacrity that he could hardly believe that they had really occurred, and
it seemed to him as if it might not, after all, be only a hideous vision
of the night.

"You have only two minutes more," remarked the Duke.

Croisenois started; his soul was far away from the terrible present. He
glanced at the clock, then at his enemy, and lastly at Marie, who lay
upon the couch, and from her ashen complexion might have been regarded
as dead, save for the hysterical sobs which convulsed her frame. He felt
that it was impossible to leave her in such a condition without aid of
any kind, but he saw well that any show of pity on his part would only
aggravate his offence. "Heaven have mercy on us!" muttered he. "We are
at the mercy of a maniac," and with a feeling of deadly fear he
asked himself what would be the fate of this woman, whom he loved so
devotedly, were he to die. "For her sake," he thought, "I must slay this
man, or her life will be one endless existence of torture--and slay him
I will."

"I accept your terms," said he aloud.

He spoke just in time, for as the words were uttered came the whirr of
the machinery and then the first clear stroke of the bell.

"I thank you," answered Norbert coldly as he lowered the muzzle of his
revolver.

The icy frigidity of manner in a period of extreme danger, which is the
marked characteristic of a certain type of education, had now vanished
from the Marquis's tone and behavior.

"But that is not all," he continued; "I, too, have certain conditions to
propose."

"But we agreed--"

"Let me explain; we are going to fight in the dark in your garden
without seconds. We are to dig a grave and the survivor is to bury his
dead antagonist. Tell me, am I right?"

Norbert bowed.

"But," went on the Marquis, "how can you be certain that all will end
here, and that the earth will be content to retain our secret? You do
not know, and you do not seem to care, that if one day the secret will
be disclosed and the survivor accused of being the murderer of the
other, arrested, dragged before a tribunal, condemned, and sent to a
life-long prison----"

"There is a chance of that, of course."

"And do you think that I will consent to run such a risk as that?"

"There is such a risk, of course," answered Norbert phlegmatically;
"but that will b