Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-12

shoulders as though to shake off all reSpon-
sibility for the result, then must decline to
amend my statement.
So quietly that the action did not excite
the attention of the card players about them,
Colonel Trevor leaned across the table, and
said in voice hardly more than whisper,
81 regret to inform you, sir, that in calling
my theory ridiculous you seriously offend me
and that you also lie!'
The words needed no amplifcation. Periet
for moment looked on in incredulous sur-
prise. Then he smiled and arched his brows
with commiseration as he drew his cardcase
from his pocket and handed the billet across
to the man who was forcing challenge.
Colonel Trevor replied in kind.
Il regret" said the Count slowly, that
a gentleman of your age has found it neces-
sary to insult me. In the premises l cannot
act differently-the only reply is a challenge.
If you have friend of fewer years, l shall
gladly accept a substitute on the field. |
hope that Captain Faurette here will con-
sent to act as my second.
Faurette bowed his willingness.
Colonel Trevor rose slowly from the table.
Monsieur lie Compile is courteous" he said.
II shall be my own principal. We reach
Cherbourg tomorrow. 60 direct to Paris.
AS we are at sea, am not to-day able to
name friend who will act as my second.
My address will be the Hotel Ritz, and there
| shall have some one in every way qualified
to arrange details with Captain Faurette."
Monsieur lie Compile de Periet bowed
gravely, also rising. 1.-THE plan is perfectly
Il am entirely willing that the concluding
arrangements be made in Paris" He turned
to the others. II am sure" he suggested,
THAT we need not request you gentlemen
to regard this matter as confidential"
Both the others bowed, though the boys
face flushed with excitement. He was seeing
something in life that had heretofore be-
longed in his experience exclusively to the
pages of books.
I'm deck Colonel Trevor walked forward
~ and, finding the Marquise where he had
left her, dropped again into the chair at her
side. The leaden sky was now piled high
with slate-gray clouds; but at the edge of
the world they broke into riffs where the sun
was sinking close to the water, dyeing the
west with broad broken hands of orange and
rose. Across the swelling, white capped sea
gold.
Colonel Trevor smiled at the girl. "My
child" he said, his eye lighting with remi-
niscence, "you look very much as your
mother did before her marriage. l was your
fathers best man." He paused and laughed
as he bit the end of fresh cigar. And it was
not my fault" he added, THAT at that same
wedding he was not my best man.
nUELING is not so open to-day as in times
- when editorial writer's of Paris were
wont in advance to commiserate with some
unfortunate who seemed to be going to the
certainty of death at the point of a celebrat-
ed blade. Yet the doings of Compile de
Periet were sufficiently we'll known to excite
interest, and in the cafes along the Champs
Elysees there were few intimates of the
duelist who spoke together in small knots of
the event of the morrow.
1t was somewhat strange arrangement.
Major Burton, who acted for Colonel Tree
vor, had explained to Captain Faurette that
the American principal wished terms that
were hardly ordinary As the challenged
party, this was his right He had chosen
pistols at short range. The principals were
to stand back to back, and on the word
Wheel" to confront each other as they
did in the form of code duello that formerly
obtained in the Southern States. But there
was to be difference. Colonel Trevor was
not duelist. He had had of late small prac-
tice with firearms and was slow of move