The Calumet news., 1914-09-17
Forestalled
BY JOHN C. LARNED


to appear that all the bravest men In
France would he killed. While Louls
Nv. was on the throne young grndu.
ate of the College of New Jersey went
abroad for the purpose OF finishing his
education by travel.
Paris I'm those days was favorlta
resort for the few colonists of North
| America who ventured TO cross the
| Atlantic, and young Mathewson made
| quite IA sojourn there. The principal
reason for his doing so was Mile. Hor
tense de Boyer, Il dashing girl, who was
setting the young bloods of the capital
| wild. She was considered the most
| graceful dancer and the best horseWo.
man In Paris and had so far practiced
| the art of self defense as to stand
| well as n handler of the foil
One evening after ball, at which
Mathewson had paid marked attention
to Mile. de Boyer. he was addressed by
n young army officer as follows:
| II am the bearer of a challenge 10
| you from Count CASTOR Vaudelais. YOU
having during the evening brushed
against him in the dance"
Mathewson knew very well that the
charge was but n pretext for the chal.
ienge and concerned himself only about
the latter. Moreover. he knew that he
must either accept 1t or leave Paris.
followed by the contempt OF all who
had favored him by their good will.
He suspected that the true reason for
being called out was that he had paid
marked attention to Mile. de Boyer.
! He replied by referring the officer TO
friend, then went to his apartments.
The friend joined him soon after, and
upon consultation ii was determined
to put off the meeting so long as pos
sible in order that the American might
prepare himself by practice, for he had
no skill whatever with any weapon
The best, however, that could be done
was to defer the encounter for ten
days. Then Mathewson began TO prac-
tice shooting with pistol.
The next evening after the ball while
Count Vaudelais was dining at the cafe
where he was used to taking his dinner
|
ing a veil that she did not raise, entered
the place and took seat near him.
No lady was in those days ever seen
to enter a cafe unattended by an es-
cort, and the yelled woman at once ar
rested the attention of every one pres
ent Presently she spoke in an indig-
nant tone to Vaudelais, accusing him
OF staring at her, threw card on his
table bearing the name Of Albert du
Plessis and left the cafe.
Va'udelais. astonished picked up the
card. supposing it to bear the name Of
the lady's husband. Since its being
given him was tantamOunt to a chal-
lenge, he waited for friend of the
gentleman to appear. Presently man
entered and said that he represented
Du Plessis and made arrangements for
the duel to take place the next morning
Mt sunrise.
Vaudelais now had two duels on his
hands on successive mornings. This
did not trouble him. for not n year
passed that he fought fewer than half n
dozen. But hs did not like fighting the
husband of woman on charge
that he had stared at her. and he was
not satisfied as to the status OF the w0-
man herself. since she had been In
public cafe unattended. He belonged
to the court circle and to fight any
one except a gentleman would detract
from his social standing. He endeay-
ored to discover who was NJ. du Iles'
sis. but found no one who had ever
heard OF him. However, thinking 10
suffer less by fighting a man OF the
people than by declining to fight. he
concluded. so long as the affair WouIu
not interfere with his meeting with
Mathewson, to let 1t proceed.
He was on the ground the next
morning waiting for Nj. du PlesSis'
who had not arrived, when carriage
: drove up and out stepped lady at
tended by maid. She drew aside
, her veil and revealed the features of
t Mile de Boyer. Vaudelais was thuh-
derstruck.
, How long, NJ. le Count" she SAID
$ 'since you constituted yourself my
1 guardian, with the right to say VINO
9 shall and who shall not pay me at
tention"
"Hortense, what do you mean py
such words?'
II mean that have heard that you
whose brains are in your limbs, nave
under pretext. challenged man
whose brains are in his head because
: he danced with me several times at u
recent ball. propose that you shal'
first settle with me for accepting MS
invitations, after which you may SET
tie with him for giving them
Throwing or q long cloak, she re-
vealed fencing costume. Vaudelais
did all in his power to avoid lighting
woman and succeeded only py
pledging himself to withdraw MS
challenge to Mathewson. admlttins
the true reason for having given IT,
with an abject apology.
Mathewson was In a shooting gar
I. lery when he RECEIVED the count
withdrawal. He endeavored to us,
cover the reason for its reception pu'
Mile. de Boyer had pledged every one