River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1889-06-06

bewilderment OF soul came TO him.
He thought: Il hold the means. Now
| feel better-sure of myself
But at the end of an hour he had
emptied the bottle, and his state OF
nerves again became unbearable. He
felt mad desire to roll on the ground,
to cry out. to gnaw something.
A pull at the door-bell gave him so
great feeling of suffocation that he
was not strong enough TO get up and
receive his seconds. He no longer
dared speak TO them, say ''good morn
ing" or pronounce one single word
for fear they would divine all from the
mere alteration In his voice.
''All is settled according to the con-
ditiOns you arranged" the Colonel
announced. "Your adversary first
claimed the privileges of the insulted
party, but he gave in very soon and
has accepted every thing. His seconds
are two military men,"
The Vicomte managed TO utter;
Thanks"
The Colonel went on:
Pardon us if we only come in and
go right out again, for we have a
thousand things to do yet. We must
have a good surgeon, since the duel is
to last until there is a serious wound;
and you know to get a ball in ones
self is no joke. We must choose a
place near a house, where the wounded
man may be carried if necessary, and
so forth aud so on; in fact, we have
enough to keep us busy for two or
three hours"
Again the Vicomte articulated:
Thanks"
"You are feeling we'll. said the Col
onel. feeling calm?n
''Yes. very calm, thanks"
The two men went away.
".
When he knew himself to be alone
once more he thought he was going
mad.
His man having lit the lamps, he
seated himself at his table to write
some letters. After having written on
the top of the page, This is my
will" he got up again with shudder
and stretched himself in;potently, feel
ing incapable of putting one idea with
another, of taking any resolution, de-
Gliding any thing.
So he was to fight! He could no
longer avoid it. What was happening
to him? He wished to fight, he meant
to fight, his mind was fully made up
TO it, and it really seemed. in spite of
all his mental effort and the strain on
power of will. that he could not keep
hold of sufficient strength to take him
to the meeting place. he tried to
picture the duel to himself, his own
attitude, his adversary's bearing.
From time to time his teeth hit to-
gether in his mouth with a little dry
noise. He wished to read. and took
up Chateauvillard's Code of Deul-
ing" He then said to himself:
Has my opponent frequented shoot
ing matches? Is he well known? Does
he belong to any special class? How
can l find outP"
He remembered Baron de Vaux's
book on marksmen, and looked it over
from one end to the other. George
Lamirs name was not there, but yet if
this man were not good shot, he
would not so readily have accepted so
dangerous a weapon and such deadly
conditions. Whilst pacing up and down
he opened box of CASTOR Kenneth,
placed it on stand and took from it
one of the pistols, Then he put him
self in position to fire and raised his
arm. But he trembled from head to
foot, the pistol waved in his grasp;
then he said:
ut is impossible. / can not fight
like this He looked into the end of
the pistol, the little. deep, black hole
that splits forth death. He thought Of
dishonOr. the gossip of the clubs, the
laughter of society, the scorn of wom-
en-, the inuendoes of newspapers. of the
insults towards would fling at him. All
this time he was staring at the weap-
on, and raising the cock, he saw sud-
denly the printing glistening UNDER
meath like a tiny red flame. Through
chance or forgetfulness the pistol had
been left loaded. 1t gave him feel
ing of confused inexplicable Joy.
II before the other he did not hold
himself as dignilied and calm as he
should, he would be lost forever. He
would be spotted, branded with in
fanny, driven out of society-and that
calm, brave bearing, he would not
have it, he knew it, he felt it. And
yet he was brave. since he wished to
fight, he was brave, since
The thought just touched
did not finish itself even in his mind,
for opening his mouth wide he rammed
the nose of the pistol down his throat
and pulled the trigger.
When his man rushed in, startled
by the report, he found him lying on
his back-dead. A squirt Of blood had
spattered the white paper on the
table and made large red spot under