"Then, remain standing. You may do as you please.--Where the devil did I put my false collar?"
"You divine the motive of my visit, monsieur, I fancy?"
"What! do I divine it? Why, I have been waiting for you, with some impatience. But I said to myself: 'That gentleman will not come very early, because, on the day after his wedding---- ' Ha! ha! I don't think I need say any more."
"It has occurred to me, monsieur, that our duel might as well take place without witnesses. The subject of our dispute is such a delicate one! There are some things which one doesn't like to make a noise about; for the world, which is unkind, as a general rule, sometimes makes a mountain out of what was----"
"Only a mouse--_parturiens montes._ I am entirely of your opinion.--Ah! I have my collar."
"Then, monsieur, you consent to fight with no other witness than my servant?"
"Very gladly; I have already fought that way more than once."
"Thinking that you might have no weapons, monsieur, I brought two swords and a pair of pistols with me."
"You did very well; for, as you foresaw, I am without weapons at this moment. Ah! I used to have some beautiful ones in the old days! My pistols were made by Devisme; I could bring down a fly at fifty yards; but I had to let them go. What would you have? _Deus dederat, Deus abstulit._--I will just put on my coat, and I am at your service."
"This is a most extraordinary individual," said Auguste Monléard to himself as he listened.
The Latin with which Cherami sprinkled his discourse, and his air of good-breeding, had modified the opinion he had formed of him; and he was not sorry to learn that he was not about to fight with a man devoid of breeding and education.
At last, Arthur came out from behind his screen, and saluted his adversary with all the ease of a man of the world, saying:
"Very good, monsieur. Doubtless you are well acquainted with this quarter, this neighborhood. It is entirely unfamiliar to me. Is there any spot hereabout where we can fight comfortably--without having to travel a couple of leagues to Vincennes or the Bois de Boulogne?"
"Wait a moment, while I think. We could go behind the Buttes Saint-Chaumont; there are some quarries there, where no one would see us. But it's rather hard to get there in a carriage; and then, too, the ground's rather uneven, and sometimes there are some low-lived rascals prowling about. But, pardieu! we have just what we want, close at hand. In the next street there's a large vacant lot, on which they're going to build, but the building isn't begun yet. No one ever passes through that street; we shall be as retired as we should be in our own house."