The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-10-14
THE QUIET MAN.

y
hadn't long joined the army. used to
belong to fashionable club in London,
the members of which were just the sort
or men you read about in Levers novels
as wild as wild could be, always in some
Scrape or other, and spending their whole
time in riding, shooting, gambling or
hghting-all except one.
That one was q small, quiet, pale
faced, gray haired man, with very sad,
weary look, as if he had once been
crushed by some great sorrow and had
never been able to shake it off. He hard
~ ever spoke to any one, and when he
did it was in voice as meek as his face.
30 of course we made great fun of him
among ourselves, finding these quiet
ways of his very queer contrast to our
own rackety, harum scarum style, and,
we nicknamed him the "Quietest Man
In the Club" though, indeed, we might
gust 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, subject with
which we were all tolerably familiar, for
there was hardly man among us who
hadn't been tout" once
"They did some tidy dueling in the old
times" said Lord H., who was killed
afterward in action. "You remember
how those six chums of Henry III of
Franco fought three to three till there
was only one left alive out of the SIX"
THAT was pretty fair certainly" cried
Charlie Thornton of tho 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
him?" whispered Thornton. 81 never
saw him like that before"
"But what was tho story, then, Char
he?" 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"
81 can give them to you, then" an
swered Thornton; "for my uncle was
Martingales 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 it
again. What they Quarreled about l
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
1t could not end without blood, and it
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 tho end of the fight-insisted upon
third shot The third time, by some
accident, Martingale fired a moment too
soon and gave Il him 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 fired and brought down his man."
"Killed himt'
Rather. Shot him slap through the
heart. But twas his last duel for from
that day he was never heard of again,
and people said he had either committed
suicide or died of broken heart"
''Well, don't see why he need have
done that, for, after all, 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 duclling tragedy in Paris.
The notorious Partisan bully and duel
list, Armand de Villeneuve, has lust
added another wreath to his blood stained
laurels, the new victim being the Chew
alier Henri de Polignac, fine young
fellow of 80, the only son of a widowed
mother. Some strong expressions of dis
gust used by the chevalier with refer
ence to one of De Viileneuve's former
duels having come to the latter's ears, he
sought out De Polignac and insulted
him SO grossly as to render a meeting
inevitable
1.-THE chevalier having fired first and
missed, De Villeneuve called out to him,
Look to the second buttonhole of your
coat! 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 vanity?"
Just then happened to look up and
saw the quiet man rise slowly from his
chair, with face so changed that it