The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-02-16
DELAPLAINE'S DUEL.

W hen first knew Arthur Deiapialne NJ
Lal just completed his twenty-si1th year.
We met in Paris, both young Americans,
whom this fascinating city had attracted by
b. It's bright and potent spells. I suppose it
wa solely similarity Of pursuit and associa-
tiol that led Arthur to become intimate with
,<yseif. but [, for my own part, would gladly
have chosen him as friend under any
possible circumstances. He had the keenness
Of feature which we are apt to term
Amer AT. a,ii which perfectly matched
his l,ittering liazai eyes, where dwelr the
evidence of vitality that it would take q long
Ike % s,ilIc- !. His figure was of the slender,
flexible, martial sort: he had, indeed, passed
with honor through West Point, and would
then have been serving in the regular army
but for the fact of his having rather unex.
y,ecse.ily fallen heir to considerable proper
~. his ancestors were nearly all southern
soldiers on the pa:ernal side, and his father,
Gen. Delaplaine, had commanded with dis
tinction in the war of the rebellion, finally
perish:ng there by northern bullet. If
Arthur ol4i,i;aine had all a soldiers vivacity
and spirit, h. had no small share of a soldiers
natural lazine.ss as we'll; and it was perhaps
for the latter reason that he quilted the army
soon after All uncle in the north bequeathed
him enough money to net him an income of
about eight thousand dollars a year. He
could live in Paris very comfortably ON his
income and take occasional trips into other
countries We'll But he had no special de-
sire for other countries. He loved the pic
turesque, radiant, bariole French capital.
History, romance, art, had slight charm for
him. His mind was acute and lucid, and his
sense of huInor delightful; but he was not
what we term intellectual, and very far from
deserving to be called literary.
l used to ask myself why was SO fond Of
him, since my tastes and sympathies We're
both intellectual and literary. For long
time could not accuratel- swer this qIIes-
ton to my own thought and I am ford of
answering all questions which pose for me, so
to speak, problem in mental analysis. But
at last the truth became quite clear. What
mad won me in Arthur Delaplaine what
had already won so many men ard women.
And this quality 1 can only define
as a gallant iniexibility. The words
look odd when thus joined together,
and yet feel that they express my meaning
with much exactitude as any other phrase
o. definition to which I could attain. For
reiaplaine did not merely impress You with
the idea of his being dauntlessly courageous;
you somehow felt that will of steel slept
under the silken ease of his everyday
deneanor. And yet, in all the amenities of
acquaintanceship he was gentleness and
pliancy itself. Only when the subtle COM
mand was spoken would the blade leap. as it
were from the scab5ard, and then You knew
that a wrist of atiamant would guide it. And
you felt that it would be welded wholly for
tine right, never in the least for the wrong.
When first met Delaplaine he had already
formed the acquaintance of Miss Antoinette
Chichester. The Chichesters We're English
people, living III Paris. No ono knew just
how they managed to live, either. They We're
only three in number-Antoinette and her
parents. 1t had been stated that Mr..
Chichester was the near relation of an Eng
fish earl, and ! think there was probably
truth in the statement. He had a jaded eye,
:, sallow, hollow cheek, and a sort of
stumbling step. He looked decayed, de
pressed, rape, almost out-at-elbows, some
times; but still he looked like gentleman, or
the remains of what had once been gentle
man. If he were really the inveterate gam
bier which report declared him, 1 can
not be sure; but positive 1 arm that he held
card-parties with certain shabby friends
til the small hours, and that he occasionally
wore, during the daytime, that hassard,
trenlulous, CLASSY eyed look which the gaming
table is apt to produce.
Mrs. Chichester was n feshy little woman,
with an immense apparent fund of sympathy
for the whole inhabited planet. but in reality
Il more than suspect) caring not a button for
anybody's interest except her own. The way
in which she would shake her small head at
you, as it rose with something of the sleek
ness of turtles over her plump, rolling
shoulders, no doubt was intended to convey
the depth and sincerity of her humane feel
ing. But distrusted her from the first. As
Richelieu said of Huguet in the play, HE
bowed too low, so one in real life might say
Of her that she showed in her daily dealings
with everybody and anybody, entirely too
profuse a congeniality.
Antoinette Chichester was of very differ
emit stamp from her parents. / should sup
pose that her age was then about 81, and in
former days of greater household prosperity
she must have received a careful education.
I was for two years an intimate visitor at her
home, and 1 never detected in her a symptom
of anything but the most even and admirable
culture. She was not clever. Her disposition
you readily saw, was yielding and complaisant
in the extreme. Regarding her fathers mode
of life or her mothers foibles and oddities she
was reticence itself. believe that she hearty
loved them both, Notwithstanding their
faults, hidden or patent.
Antoinette was remarkably beautiful
There can be no question concerning that
fact. l never heard two people disagree upon
il. Her face expressed a greater degree Of
intelligence than had really fallen to her lot;
liz eyes, of a dark, pellucid blue, suggested an
intellectual force which l am confident she
did not possess, while they also prophesied,
with an equsi falsity, rich resources of sensi-
Liiity, even passion She hail form whose
curves and developments Were exquisite, and
in the way she wound the shining chestnut
strands of her lovely hair about head per-
feet in outline and posture, there was a grace
and attraction quite her own. Through my
self Delaplaine came To know the Chichesters,
and be and Antionette had scarcely passed
one evening together before began 10 per-
hat oh. hal told
upon him. \ little later, with unreserved
canjoT, he confessed to me that he desired to
make the girl his wife. Let them
gossip they please about the way
in which her father lives" he said.
Il shouldn't care, Egbert, if he were red
handed assassin 1t is Antionette whom
wish 10 marry, not any of her relatives