The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1896-08-19

ties OF this nineteenth century, In
each l received some bodily hurt. The
trst of my duels took place in small
town OF Southern France. l was q
resident there for the winter, had a
tiny bachelor villa, and Through for.
mer acquaintance with the place) was
on pretty intimate terms with q good
many of my neighbors. There was an
English element in the place, but the
French of course predominated, and
it was with the Frenchmen 1 usually
found myself. The man with whom !
fought was Provencal, born close by.
He was big, struggling fellow,
lean, and with bright birds eye that
was always glittering on you. He was
a gentleman undoubtedly, had been
educated in Marseilles, and had never
wandered fifty miles from the Riviera
coast. He'was probably the most mar
row-minded man that ever lived, and,
on diet of books and Anglophobe news
papers, he had imbibed a blind and
poisonous hatred for the British Ma.
ton that was unique in its completes
ness. His name was D'Arblay, and
he called himself my friend.
This was the funny thing about the
man. He cultivated the society of
Englishmen, and individually Il think)
he liked them. He was eternally
running down per6de Albion, but no.
body took much notice of that. The
Englishman who lives abroad is SO en-
tirely confident about the superiority
Of his own island that he doesn't often
break out in patriotic vein. 1t isn't
ais way. Besides, he finds that one
short pitying smile often serves his
purpose better than q whole volume
Of talk.
Now, for two years had endured
D'Arblay's revilings of my native land
with no more forcible retort than o
series Of these pitying smiles; and
think in the end he began to hate me,
for one day, without warning, he
started on fresh topic which he must
have known was calculated to wound
me deeply. He commenced to talk
mild evil about some one / cared for
very much indeed, and that in q club
house before the ordinary mixed
gathering of other men.
warned him once, twice, and the
third time; and he always said that
he meant no harm, and turned of
what 1 had said with easy badinage
and continued his theme. But at last
| saw, or thought I saw, his motive,
and hot anger boiled up In me.
''D'Arblay," ! said, "if you want to
fight, say so like a man. But dror
talking about that girl or shall throw
this inkstand at you head"
"M'sieu," he retorted, '1 dispute
your right to be the censor of my con
versation. The lady in question:
threw the inkstand.
The glass missed him, but the blacl
fluid spurted over his face, and tn,
technical insult had been given anC
received. ---.
He bowed formally and left the clul
house., spoke to couple of my friend
and followed his example. Later h,
appointed two seconds, and they con
suited with mine; and a time wa
fixed for the meeting, and sword
were chosen as the weapons.
D'Arblay was an average swordsman
had seen him practise with a maitr,
d'escrime, and has gauged his power
pretty we'll. For myself 1 knew o
the art of fencing absolutely nothin,
whatever; and, when everything
was snugly arranged for the duel,
thought of this fact with sometime
more than annoyance. 1 particular ly
did not want to be killed, because
well, because a certain lady ma,
promised to marry me within a shor
time, aud I-well, did not want t,
disappoint her. And there was NJ
backing out of the duel. One coul,
afford to laugh at such a meeting il
England; but in France 1T is anothe
matter. Even the English winter res
idents would have looked askance a
me if l tried to disentangle myself
Moreover, there was another thing
more dangerous than wounds OF death
and that was sridicule. A man ma,
put up with being killed, but he eau
not endure being laughed at SO
made up my mind that, if D'Arbla,
did not disable me first, would leav
my mark on him in way there wa
no mistaking. Mind, l did not wan
to kill the fellow, only did not in
tend to be mixed up in an affair whicl
the newspapers could define a
"anotheI bloodness encounter" an
| dismiss with a ieerinQ parapraoh