Litchfield enquirer., 1881-02-03

II yGaES, u1y uCAT Btfs AUOV6 alls uO H0b QlS- Il quiet youlself about your health. "csyoissyT I When we got out into the street, Stacho-
 witch shrugged his shoulders despohdingly. What 2" said 1; .'are you not sstisfedH 1 a hundred and fifty 2" E'7'5 s''=77 " 5'4 'I knew beforehand. he replied, 'that thIs visit would be of no use" 1 And. indeed, there was no amendment in his sad condition on the contrary, his melan-
 choly increased daily to, disquietIng degree.
 Ichad almost made up my mind to return alone
 to the doctors and ask for further directions, when an unforeseen occurrence changed. the
 whole position of affairs.
 l -s9T !n.o9 s1ol2lis if ss35g 70 @7u'ts' 9-.l Winter was over, and we were in March.
 had been obliged to accept many invitations,
 and, for the first time since I had made
 Stachowith's acquaintance, some days had
 gone eby without our meeting. aHi't fAtA'a' One night as uas GOir'g houne, es about leleven, l chanced to pass before his door.
 Glaneing up at his window and seeing hght.
 l went up and found him busy writing
 VI am very glad to see you" he said, com Hing forward to meet me. 1 have favour to
 ask of you. ,...iy5 aim, ,.ss..~ s y.G | He begged me sit down, and took chair in
 front of me. noticed at once that he was
 abouring under great and painful excitement. | w hA1 uoS uoppCuCuI dohCO. | ,Stackowitch rose and walked up and down
 the room with hurried step. Then stopping l before me, he said abruptly l "DO you think me coward 2' Decidedly not, l answered. 'What do l you meant"
 fl have been insulted-grievously insulted. and cannot fight the man." ...-.s. I "Hem it's awkward. There are men who i will not fight from principle. It is a question | Nf a0nooionoa--0P nf There ic aO die cussing it, but"
 "Yous are mistaken" said Stachowitch, | quickly.bt II have fought more than one duel ! in my life, and may fight again. But it is Drieux who has lnsulted me" He ap- | peared to hesitate.
 Well" said to encourage him to proceed, I ''Drieux or another, what does it matter ?" II cannot fight him."
 "Why not ?"
 "I cannot; must not" He spoke with | great animation. .......-... My good fellow" said, rising from my seat Il am quite at your service but on one condition 1; you must give up speaking in rid | dles, and you must tell me clearly what has occurred"
 ''Drieux has insulted me-" | ''You have told me that three times sl-
 ready"
 | II am entitled to demand satisfaction
 
 been good enough ts give me all the particu- | lars of this business. Drieux is man of
 honour, and he will not refuse you satis-
 faction if you have right to demand it." But cannot fight him." | l was beginning to lose patience T will come back ts-mOrrow," I said "1
 trust you will be sufficiently calm by that time
 to be able to speak intelligibly. Goodnight" Stop, beseech you. Do not leave me Help me !" sy,. ..-.,. ..ssI . | "So be it. I remain. Now be calm give
 me . light. Thanks l And now, please, light your cigarette. All right! Are you | ready? We'll, then, tell me now why you
 will not fight Drieux g' | He looked ixedly at me, and his staring,
 wide-open eyes assured an expression of un- speakahle horror. .r.r.......-. . "Because will not be his murderer" he said at last slowly, emphasizing each word. "Yeu grow more and more mysterious "Because am sure to kill him if wefght." With an undisguised gesture of impatience.
 1 answered somewhat grossly Enough of all this; we can talk about 1t later. Tell me
 what has taken place. Until 1 know, I do
 not see that my interference can be of any use."
 The story Staehowitch told me at last was common place enough. The good feeling that had formerly existed between Drieux and himself had for some time past undergone a gradual change. The two young men had be- come jealous rivals, and had watched each other with distrust whenever they met at
 Madame de Baudy's. Drieux had proposed
 to Marie, and had been refused. Since then
 he had ceased to visit at his auGt's house. His pride had been nearly as much wounded as his affections He felt sore and angry with every one. but more especially with Stacho- witch. When they met, Drieux bowed stiffiy and with an aggrieved, air.. The Russian, feeling sure that he meant to pick quarrel, avoided him as much as he could. In the afternoon of that very day they had met again at the fencing school. There Drieux had asked Stachswitch abruptly whether he
 would do him the honour of match with him.
 "I refused" continued Stachowitch ''and feel certain that did so in the most courte- ous terms but Drieux would not be put of and it became evident that he had an object m view. He insisted in such an aggressive tone. that l might we'll have considered my self affronted, had not been resolved to avoid a quarrel by every possible means. Some members of the club who witnessed the pain- ful scene tried to interfere They pointed out to Drieux how irrational this outburst of an ger was they reminded him that they had all made up their minds long ago to put up with my apparent caprice in the choice of my adj versaries that nobody took offence at it, and that Drieux, by acting differently, seem- ed to be reading them a lesson. Nothing could pacfy him; on the contrary, raising his voice still more, he apostrophsed me in such an offensive tone, that l was obliged at last to break through my self imposed restraint, and to request him to explain or to retract his words He merely laughed, saying that his words were intelligibe enough to require no commentary; that he had no reason 10 re- tract them, and that it rested with me either to accept them or to demand satisfaction. That is how the matter stands. What do you advise P
 replied that the first thing was to try all means'of concilation. 'I will see your Op- ponent, tomorrow JmOrning. sl He may have got good advice from his pillow. l will try and make him understand that he is commit ting himself foolshly by his obstnacy in this matteEi Do not worry yourself unnecessarily. Happen what may, your honour is safe in my hands"
 Early next morning I called on Drieux. He evidently expected my vist. At my very first words he stopped me, and giving me the names of two of his friends, begged that l would settle the matter with them. 1 tried in vain to obtain an explanation from him. He listened politely, and his behavior was un- objectionable. but to all my remarks he mere ly replied. tlIat his friends having kindly con- sented to conduct this business, it was no lOn- ger any concern of his, and that he felt quite satisfied that they would do what was right. I took leave of him without having made the slightest impression, and went to see his friends
 Drieux had taken care to select two very young men, who did not belong to our club, and who, being duly impressed with the inn pOrtance of their functions as seconds. would probably have been disappointed If they had not had to play part in an ''affair ofhonour." With them, likewise, l was completely un- successful. ,,-.,t,., .-.s,,.-.I s-.i g.,
 "But, " they argued, "why should we hind CT those two gentleman from fighting if they wish it A hostile meeting between them is unavoidable, unless your friend gives up de- msnding satisfaction. The Vicomte de Drieux