The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-05-11

which seemed to him mysterious anu fuil
% Via 2 e Sns ss;l m meaning Whs Gs saS he eab% esn
about? Why had Ne stared at that
woman in that way: Was il not revolt
ing that a stranger. an unknown, should
so con and trouble our life, all on a
sudden, simply because he had been
pleased to fix his yes insolently upon a
repeated yet again i'm a loud voice:
"What n brute!"
Then he remained m~otionless, upright,
thinking, his loo ever planted on the
card. A rag awoke i'm him against this
piece OF paper, an anger full OF hate, IN
which was mixed a strange uneasy feel
ing. II was stupid, this whole affair! He
tool a little penknifc which lay open to
his hand, and pricked II into the middle
of the printed name as II he had pom
iarded some n
However, they must fight. He consid-
cred himself indeed as the insulted party.
And, having thus the right, should he
choose the pistol or the sword? With
the sword he risked less, but with the
pistol he had the chance of making
his adversary withdraw. II is very
rare that a duel with swords
ing the combatants from engaging near
enough for the point of the:rapier TO enter
very deep. With the pistol he risked his
life seriously, but he might also come out
of the affair with all the honors Of the sit
%uation, and without going so far rs an
actual meeting.
He said:
81 must be firm. He will he afraid"
The sound of his voice made him trem-
BILE and he looked about him. He felt him
self very nervous He drank another glass
of water, then began to undress himself
to go to bed.
As soon as he was in bed he blew ont
thel light and shut his eyes.
He thought.
~ have got all day tomorrow to attend
to my affairs. I'd better sleep first, SO as
to be calm"
He was very warm under the bed
clothes, but he could not manage To doze
of. He turned and twisted, remained
five minutes on his back, then placed
himself on his left side, then rolled over
to his right.
He wal stiil thirsty. He got up again to
drink. Then an anxiety seized him:
"Shall / be afraid"
Why did his heart fall to beating SO
n.adly at each of the well known noises
of his chamber? When the clock was
about to strike tn. little grinding sound of
the spring which stands erect caused him
to give a start, and for several seconds
after that he was obliged to open his
mouth to breathe, he remained so much
oppressed.
He set himself to reasoning with him
self upon the possibility of this thing.
"Shall i be afraid"
No, certainly not. he would not be
afraid, because he was ~resolute to go To
the end, because he had his will firmly
fixed to fight and not to tremble. But he
felt so deeply troubled that he asked him
self.
"Can a man he afraid in spite of him
self"
And this doubt invaded him, this uneas-
mess, this dread. If some force stronger
than his will, If some commanding and
irreristable power should conquer him
what would happen Yes, what would
upon the field, since he willed TO do IL.
But il he trembled? But IL he tainted +?
And he thought of his situation, of his rep
u~tation, of his name.
And "a curious necessity seized him on "A
self i'm the mirror. He relit his candle.
When he perceived his face reflected in
the polished glass he hardly recognized
himself, and IL seemed to him that he
had never seen this man before. His eyes
appeared enormous, and he was pale
surely he was pale, very pale.
He remained upright before the mirror.
He put out his tongue as IL to test the
state of his health, aud all Oh n sudden
this thought entered into him after the
fashion of a bullet:
THE day after tomorrow, at this time,
i shall perhaps be dead"
And his heart began again To beat furi-
orsly.
1.-THE day after tomorrow. at this time,
I shall perhaps be dead. The person he
fore me. this II which | see in this glass,
will exist no longer. What. here l am,
l am looking AT myself, | feel myself to
live, and in "a hours l shall be laid to rest
upon this couch, dead, my eyes shut, cold
inanimate, gone"
He turned toward his bed and he dis
tinctly saw himself extended on the bacl
in the same sheets which he had just left
He had the hollow face which deat
men have, and that slackness to the hand,
which will never stir more.
So he grew afraid of his bed, and il
order not to look at IL again. he passe,
into his smoking room. He tool a cigaI
mechanically. lit IL, and again began I,
walk the room. He was cold: he wen
toward the bell to wake mis- valet; but h
stopped his hand lifted toward the bell
rope:
THAT fellow will see that | am afraid
And he did not ring; he made the fir,
himself. When his hands touched any
thing they trembled slightly with a nerv
GUS shaking. His head wandered: Ian
troubled thoughts became fugitive. sud
den, melancholy; an intoxication seizet
on his spirit as il he had been drunk.