'Remember, this duel cannot proceed without you, and I hold you personally responsible for anything that happens.'
This Colonel Berkeley appeared to be an authority upon the question, for he removed the cigar from his mouth and he laid down the law in his strange, drawling voice.
'The circumstances are unusual but not irregular, Lord Rufton,' said he. 'This gentleman has given a blow and this other gentleman has received it. That is a clear issue. Time and conditions depend upon the person who demands satisfaction. Very good. He claims it here and now, across the table. He is acting within his rights. I am prepared to accept the responsibility.'
There was nothing more to be said. Lord Rufton sat moodily in the corner with his brows drawn down and his hands thrust deep into the pockets of his riding-breeches.
Colonel Berkeley examined the two pistols and laid them both in the centre of the table. Lord Dacre was at one end and I at the other, with eight feet of shining mahogany between us. On the hearth-rug with his back to the fire, stood the tall colonel, his handkerchief in his left hand, his cigar between two fingers of his right.
'When I drop the handkerchief,' said he, 'you will pick up your pistols and you will fire at your own convenience.
Are you ready?'
'Yes,' we cried.
His hand opened and the handkerchief fell. I bent swiftly forward and seized a pistol, but the table, as I have said, was eight feet across, and it was easier for this long-armed milord to reach the pistols than it was for me.
I had not yet drawn myself straight before he fired, and to this it was that I owe my life. His bullet would have blown out my brains had I been erect. As it was it whistled through my curls. At the same instant, just as I threw up my own pistol to fire, the door flew open and a pair of arms were thrown round me. It was the beautiful, flushed, frantic face of Lady Jane which looked up into mine.
'You sha'n't fire! Colonel Gerard, for my sake don't fire,' she cried. 'It is a mistake, I tell you, a mistake, a mistake! He is the best and dearest of husbands. Never again shall I leave his side.' Her hands slid down my arm and closed upon my pistol.
'Jane, Jane,' cried Lord Rufton; 'come with me.
You should not be here. Come away.'
'It is all confoundedly irregular,' said Colonel Berkeley.
'Colonel Gerard, you won't fire, will you? My heart would break if he were hurt.'
'Hang it all, Jinny, give the fellow fair play,' cried Lord Dacre. 'He stood my fire like a man, and I won't see him interfered with. Whatever happens I can't get worse than I deserve.'
But already there had passed between me and the lady a quick glance of the eyes which told her everything.
Her hands slipped from my arm. 'I leave my husband's life and my own happiness to Colonel Gerard,' said she.
How well she knew me, this admirable woman! I stood for an instant irresolute, with the pistol cocked in my hand. My antagonist faced me bravely, with no blenching of his sunburnt face and no flinching of his bold, blue eyes.
'Come, come, sir, take your shot!' cried the colonel from the mat.
'Let us have it, then,' said Lord Dacre.
I would, at least, show them how completely his life was at the mercy of my skill. So much I owed to my own self-respect. I glanced round for a mark. The colonel was looking toward my antagonist, expecting to see him drop. His face was sideways to me, his long cigar projecting from his lips with an inch of ash at the end of it.
Quick as a flash I raised my pistol and fired.
'Permit me to trim your ash, sir,' said I, and I bowed with a grace which is unknown among these islanders.
I am convinced that the fault lay with the pistol and not with my aim. I could hardly believe my own eyes when I saw that I had snapped off the cigar within half an inch of his lips. He stood staring at me with the ragged stub of the cigar-end sticking out from his singed mustache. I can see him now with his foolish, angry eyes and his long, thin, puzzled face. Then he began to talk. I have always said that the English are not really a phlegmatic or a taciturn nation if you stir them out of their groove. No one could have talked in a more animated way than this colonel. Lady Jane put her hands over her ears.
'Come, come, Colonel Berkeley,' said Lord Dacre, sternly, 'you forget yourself. There is a lady in the room.'
The colonel gave a stiff bow.
'If Lady Dacre will kindly leave the room,' said he,
'I will be able to tell this infernal little Frenchman what I think of him and his monkey tricks.'
I was splendid at that moment, for I ignored the words that he had said and remembered only the extreme provocation.
'Sir,' said I, 'I freely offer you my apologies for this unhappy incident. I felt that if I did not discharge my pistol Lord Dacre's honour might feel hurt, and yet it was quite impossible for me, after hearing what this lady has said, to aim it at her husband. I looked round for a mark, therefore, and I had the extreme misfortune to blow your cigar out of your mouth when my intention had merely been to snuff the ash. I was betrayed by my pistol. This is my explanation, sir, and if after listening to my apologies you still feel that I owe you satisfaction, I need not say that it is a request which I am unable to refuse.'
It was certainly a charming attitude which I had assumed, and it won the hearts of all of them. Lord Dacre stepped forward and wrung me by the hand. 'By George, sir,' said he, 'I never thought to feel toward a Frenchman as I do to you. You're a man and a gentleman, and I can't say more.' Lord Rufton said nothing, but his hand-grip told me all that he thought. Even Colonel Berkeley paid me a compliment, and declared that he would think no more about the unfortunate cigar.
And she—ah, if you could have seen the look she gave me, the flushed cheek, the moist eye, the tremulous lip!
When I think of my beautiful Lady Jane it is at that moment that I recall her. They would have had me stay to dinner, but you will understand, my friends, that this was no time for either Lord Rufton or myself to remain at Gravel Hanger. This reconciled couple desired only to be alone. In the chaise he had persuaded her of his sincere repentance, and once again they were a loving husband and wife. If they were to remain so it was best perhaps that I should go. Why should I unsettle this domestic peace? Even against my own will my mere presence and appearance might have their effect upon the lady. No, no, I must tear myself away—even her persuasions were unable to make me stop. Years afterward I heard that the household of the Dacres was among the happiest in the whole country, and that no cloud had ever come again to darken their lives. Yet I dare say if he could have seen into his wife's mind—but there, I say no more! A lady's secret is her own, and I fear that she and it are buried long years ago in some Devonshire churchyard. Perhaps all that gay circle are gone and the Lady Jane only lives now in the memory of an old half-pay French brigadier. He at least can never forget.
Chapter 6
How the Brigadier Rode to Minsk
I would have a stronger wine to-night, my friends, a wine of Burgundy rather than of Bordeaux. It is that my heart, my old soldier heart, is heavy within me. It is a strange thing, this age which creeps upon one. One does not know, one does not understand; the spirit is ever the same, and one does not remember how the poor body crumbles. But there comes a moment when it is brought home, when quick as the sparkle of a whirling sabre it is clear to us, and we see the men we were and the men we are. Yes, yes, it was so to-day, and I would have a wine of Burgundy to-night. White Burgundy—Montrachet —Sir, I am your debtor!
It was this morning in the Champ de Mars. Your pardon, friends, while an old man tells his trouble. You saw the review. Was it not splendid? I was in the enclosure for veteran officers who have been decorated.
