The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1893-09-30
THE QUIET MAN.

THE QUIET MAN.
When was quite young fellow and
hadn't long joined the army. used to
belong to a fashionable club in London,
the members Of which were just the sort
Of men you read about in Levers novels
as wild as wild could be, always in some
scrape or other, and spending their whole
timo IN riding, shooting, gambling or
hghting-all except one.
That one was a small, quiet, pale
faced, gray haired man, with a very sad
weary look, as il he had once been
crushed by some great sorrow and had
never been able to shake it off. He hard
ly ever spoke to any one, and when he
did It was in a voice as meek as his face
So Of course we made great fun Of him
among ourselves, finding these quiet
ways Of his a very queer contrast to our
own raclzety, harum scarum style, and
we nicbnamed him the "Quietest Man
In the Club, " though, indeed, we might
Just as well have called him the only
quiet man in it.
Well, one evening when the room was
pretty full, and our friend the quiet
man was sitting as usual in the far cor
ner away from everybody else, we be-
gan totalk about dueling, a subject twith
which we were all tolerably familiar, for
there was hardly man among us who
hadn't been "out" once.
"They did some tidy dueling in the old
tines" said Lord H., who was killed
afberward In action. "You remember
how those six chums of Henry III of
France fought three to three till there
was only one left alive out of the six"
"Ihat was pretty fair certainly" cried
Charlie Thornton Of the Guards, "but
after all It doesn't beat the great duel 80
years ago between Sir Harry Martingale
and Colonel Fortescue."
he had hardly spoken when up jumped
the quiet man as if somebody had stuck
pin into him.
"What on earth's the matter with
himf" whispered Thornton. II never
saw him like that before"
''But what was the story, then, Char
lieY asked another man. Eve heard of
Fortescue, Of course, for he was the
most famous duelist Of his time in all
England, and I've heard of his fight
with Martingale, too, but don't think
I've ever had any particulars, or at
least none worth speaking Of"
Il can give them to you, then" an
swered Thorntoni "for my uncle was
Martingale's second. I've heard him
tell the story many time, and he al
ways said that although he had been in
plenty Of duels he had never seen one
like that and never wanted to see 1t
Ggain. What they quarreled about
don't know, and dare say they didn't
know themselves, but my uncle used to
say he knew by the look in their eyes
when they took their places to fire that
it could not end without blood, and 1t
didn't.
''They fired twice, and every shot told
and then their seconds, seeing that both
men were hard hit and bleeding fast,
wanted to put an end to it. But Fort
escue-who was one of those grim fell
lows who are always most dangerous to-
ward the end Of the fght-insisted upon
third shot. The third time, by some
accident, Martingale fired moment too
soon and gave hin bad wound in the
side, but Fortescue pressed his hand to the
wound to stop the bleeding, and then,
almost bent double with pain though he
was, he fred and brought down his man. 4"
"Killed him7'
"Rather Shot him slap through the
heart, But it was his last duel, for from
k1auA 4 h. -
and people said he had either committed
suicide or died of a broken heart"
'Well, don't see why he need have
done that, for after afl, it was a fair
fight" struck in Lord H., who had been
looking over the newspapers on the ia.
BILE. "But, if you talk of dueling, what
do you say to this?
"Another duelling tragedy in Paris.
The notorious Partisan bully and duel
list, Armand de Nilleneuve, has just
added another wreath to his blood stained
lsurels, the new victim being the Chew
aier Henri de Polignac, a fine young
fellow Of %, the only son of a widowed
mother. Some strong expressions Of dis
gust used by the cheyaher with refer
epce to one Of De Villeneuve's former
duels having come to the latter's ca. he
sought out De Polignac and insulted
him so grossly as TO render a meeting
inevitable
"The chevalier having fired first and
missed, De Villeneuve called out to him,
Look 10 the second buttonhole os your
coatr and sent bullet through the spot
indicated into the breast Of his opponent,
who expired half an hour later In great
agony, His mother is said to be broken
hearted at his death. How much longer
we wonder, will this savage be allowed
TO offer these human sacrifices to his
own inordinate vanityy'
just then happened to look up and
saw the quiet man rise slowly from his
chair, with a face so changed that II
startled me almost as much as if had
seen him disappear bodily and another
man rise up in his stead. l had once
seen an oil painting abroad in which an
ayenging angel was hurling lightnings
upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and that
was just how this man looked at that
moment He glanced at his watch and
then came across the room and went
quickly ont.
a AN AANaA AlAEl liNf NiA't NiAH HNAlf uAlAA llAt
next after that, the quiet man didn't ap-
pear at the club and we all began to
wonder what could have become Of him.
But when I came in on the fourth even.
ing, there he was, loosed-ai
II seomod TO ome-r3t4erp p3lgr uud feeblel
than usual
"Hore's news for you, Fred" called
out Charlie Thornton. "That rascally
French duellst, Do Villeneuve, has me
bis match at last, and Dr. Lansett Of thl
-th Bengal Native infantry, who saw
the whole affair. is just going to tell III
all about it,"
"Well, this was how it happened - be
gan the doctor. In passing through
Paris stopped TO visit my old friend
Colonel de Malet, and he and werl
strolling through the Tuileries garden
when suddenly murmur ran through
the crowd, Here comes De Villeneuye.
Then the throug parted, and had jus
time TO catch a glimpse Of the bully
tall figure and long black mustach
when man stepped forth from tn
crowd and said something to him, ant
then suddenly dealt him a blow.
"Ihen there was a rush and clamo
Of voices, and everybody came crowdinJ
round so that / couldn't see anything
But presently De Malet came up to M
and said, 'Lausett, we shall want yol
In this affair although I'm afraid tina
you won't have "a chance of showing YOU