Page:Czechoslovak stories.pdf/144

 “‘I’d invite you in for a glass of cognac—but forgive me this time I must write to my dear one,’ he said with a sort of forced quietness. ‘Apropos—tomorrow you’ll assist me, will you not?’ And pressing my hand he disappeared.

“Early in the morning of the next day we quickly went through the formalities of a duel. After long talking, explaining, pleading and threatening, the Lieutenant-Colonel gave his permission—that’s true but on the whole it was, after all, only an underhand sort of affair, this forced duel. There was not enough powerful argument to satisfy a higher court, and yet the affair could not be settled otherwise than by the use of the revolver. You see, Šetina could not easily manage a sword. His right hand was somewhat crippled from a ball which had struck him during our march over the Hercegovinian rocks. By the way, I recall how he often bit his lips until they bled whenever there was changeable weather. That’s how much the wound burned and stung.

“The casino was chosen as the scene of action. It couldn’t take place elsewhere the circumstance, the unsettled condition of things, and all that. I was Šetina’s second.

“Two army revolvers were brought.

“With a trembling hand I loaded them. I had an evil foreboding.

“The tables and chairs were shoved into one corner. The casino throughout its length was cleared. From