d myself without a cause. Now, I
am going to put a question to you, and one very much to the purpose too.
Do you insist on this retractation so far as to kill me if I do not make
it, although I have repeated more than once, and affirmed on my honor,
that I was ignorant of the thing with which you charge me, and although
I still declare that it is impossible for any one but you to recognize
the Count of Morcerf under the name of Fernand?"

"I maintain my original resolution."

"Very well, my dear sir; then I consent to cut throats with you. But I
require three weeks' preparation; at the end of that time I shall come
and say to you, 'The assertion is false, and I retract it,' or 'The
assertion is true,' when I shall immediately draw the sword from its
sheath, or the pistols from the case, whichever you please."

"Three weeks!" cried Albert; "they will pass as slowly as three
centuries when I am all the time suffering dishonor."

"Had you continued to remain on amicable terms with me, I should have
said, 'Patience, my friend;' but you have constituted yourself my enemy,
therefore I say, 'What does that signify to me, sir?'"

"Well, let it be three weeks then," said Morcerf; "but remember, at the
expiration of that time no delay or subterfuge will justify you in"--

"M. Albert de Morcerf," said Beauchamp, rising in his turn, "I cannot
throw you out of window for three weeks--that is to say, for twenty-four
days to come--nor have you any right to split my skull open till that
time has elapsed. To-day is the 29th of August; the 21st of September
will, therefore, be the conclusion of the term agreed on, and till that
time arrives--and it is the advice of a gentleman which I am about to
give you--till then we will refrain from growling and barking like two
dogs chained within sight of each other." When he had concluded his
speech, Beauchamp bowed coldly to Albert, turned his back upon him, and
went to the press-room.

Albert vented his anger on a pile of newspapers, which he sent flying
all over the office by switching them violently with his stick; after
which ebullition he departed--not, however, without walking several
times to the door of the press-room, as if he had half a mind to enter.
While Albert was lashing the front of his carriage in the same manner
that he had the newspapers which were the innocent agents of his
discomfiture, as he was crossing the barrier he perceived Morrel, who
was walking with a quick st