St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-02-15

to duelists of the time, at an early hour
next morning, and to bring Laroquiere
with him. ....
81 don't think we shall need sur
geon," he said to me quite affably at
parting "but, if you please, you can
bring one. In his last affair my prin-
cipal shot his man through the temples,
and he died Immediately. sincerely
hope, monsieur, that your friend is as
clever"
"Confound the fellow ~ / said to my
self as l left the house and sought the
residence of my own medical man. 81
am afraid poor Ferrand is not such
consummate murderer as Laroquiere."
After seeing the surgeon, to whom l
briefly explained matters, called upon
Mrs. Rae. She was doing her best to
comfort her daughter, who was in the
greatest possible distress. ''Are they
going to fight ~ she asked me.
"My dear Alice" said, ''they are.
[ have done my best to dissuade Paul
but he says, and am obliged to agree,
that he must fight. Let us hope for the
best. He has sure eye and steady
hand, and he has right on his side. The
other man is a scoundrel. And you
thuO -JOOi tui-lo hot
an Englishman. If | were he, would
not fight; but as it is, the matter can
not be overlooked, and, indeed, every
thing is arranged"
"YOu are to be with him 2" said Mrs.
Rae, looking as white as sheet.
"Yes; they are to meet tomorrow
morning, and by breakfast time Alice's
suspense will be over. She must bear
up"
"You must prevent the duel, sobbed
the half heartbroken girl. "CannOt
Paul let the insult pass9 But no; it
was SO public"
'You can only hope," said. 81 will
see you in the morning; but now must
90 back to him, and see that he gets
some Sleep"
"Tell him." cried Alice, "that if he is
killed shall die. Come here directly
it is over. Come even if he falls you
must tell me about it. ! must hear
everything" She buried her face in
her hands; and L, escaping from the
unhappy girl, hurried to Paul.
He was still writing, and his hair
was in disorder, and his face pale when
he turned toward me. II am no cow
ard, )" he said, ''but l am saying good
by to her, for | shall die to- morrow"
"My dear fellow" | exclaimed, 'syou
will shoot Laroquiere, and be married
next month. You must finish your
writing at once and go to bed. | will
sleep here tonight, for must see that
you turn out in time tomorrow morn
ing; so be as quick as possible
He wrote for another half-hour, ad-
dressed the document to Alice Rae,
placed lock of his hair within it, aud
after sealing it up, gave it to me.
''Give that to her." he said, ''if Laro-
quiere kills me outright-and know
he will. If it were not for Alice, de-
clare that | should be quite glad to
meet him. Now for bed"
He undressed; while lay down on
the sofa ia the next room and lit cigar,
for | could not afford to sleep myself.
Soon all was quiet, and stole in to see
Paul lying as quiet as child, with Il
smile OH his face. Probably, nay, as
suredly, passed Il more uncomfortable
night than he did. Only with the
greatest possible difficulty could keep
awake, and the hours seemed to lingeI
forever. At last, however, daylight
dawned, and | called Ferrand, who
woke refreshed and in comparatively
good spirits. After hurried breakfast
we mutfied ourselves up; | placed II
flask of brandy, some powder and bull
let's, and i brace of pistols in my
pockets, and we sailed forth in the cold
morning air. Scarcely any one was
abroad, except il few sleepy watchmen,
who seemed to make very shrewd
gueSses at the object of our expedition ;
and through the silent streets we went
for mile or SO, until we reached the
meeting-plaee.
LarOquiere and Delalaie were there
before us, and my friend the surgeon
arrived Immediately afterward in his
carriage, which waited near at hand.
The pistols were produced and loaded.
LaroquIere chose one, and gave the
other to Paul and then the two men
took up positions at distance of twen-
ty PAGES from each other, and waited
for Delaraie to give the signal to fire.
''Stay ~ cried the bully, as his second
stepped back ''let the young hound
listen to this. l am not tritling with
him; l shall shoot him only where he
wishes, for am generous, parbleu !"
off | do not kill yOu," said Paul,
quietly, 81 prefer to die"
''Then shoot him through the heart .
coolly observed Laro9uiere. at will
teach others not to challenge me.n
!, There was something to me unspeak
ably horrible in the way in which these
last words were pronounced. | shud.
dered and looked ut Paul. He smiled
at me, and at the same instant Delaraie
gave the signal.
There was but one report, for Fer
rand's pistol flashed in the pan. The
poor fellow turned round toward me
with fixed eye and pale face, and with
the name of Alice on his lips, fell dead
Laroquiere turned on his heel and de-
parted quickly in company with De-
larale, while L aided the surgeon in his
brief examination of PauPs body. Sure
ly enough, the bullet had passed
through his heart. He must have died
almost lnstantaneously, for he did not
move after he fell, and the last smile
with which he had looked at me was
still upon his face. 1t was melancholy
business in every respect. | had tC
break the sad news to Alice and hel
mother; and the two ladies were SC
terribly overcome that | feared the
shock would have some permanent eff
feet upon their health. For my part
was obliged to hurry to England as
soon as possible, and Laroquiere,
heard, also got away and remained out
/ OF France until the affair had blown
over.
L kept up correspondence with Mrs
Rae, and was glad after time to heaI
from her that Alice, though still terribly
upset, had learned to look with a GER
tain amount of philosophy upon heI
misfortune, and had, to some extent
recovered her usual health if not hei