Page:The Count of Monte-Cristo (1887 Volume 4).djvu/100

82 "Certainly, my dear sir."

"And this evening, if you please, or to-morrow at the latest, we will meet."

"No, no! I will be on the ground at the proper time; but in my opinion (and I have a right to dictate the preliminaries, as it is I who have received the provocation)―in my opinion the time ought not to be yet. I know you fence well, and I only moderately; I know, too, that you are a good marksman―there we are about equal. I know that a duel between us two would be serious, because you are brave . . . . . and I am brave also. I do not, therefore, wish either to kill you or to be killed myself, without a cause. Now, I am going to put a question to you, and categorically, too. Do you insist on this retractation so far as to kill me if I do not make it, although I have repeated it more than once, and affirmed, on my honor, that I was ignorant of the thing with which you charge me, and although I still declare that it is impossible for any one but you to recognize the Count de Morcerf under the name of Fernand?"

"I maintain my original resolution."

"Very well, my dear sir; then I consent to cut throats with you. But I require three weeks' preparation; at the end of that time I shall come and say to you, 'The assertion is false, and I retract it,' or, 'The assertion is true,' when I shall immediately draw the sword from its sheath, or the pistols from the case, whichever you please."

"Three weeks!" cried Albert; "they will pass as slowly as three centuries when I am all the time suffering dishonor."

"Had you continued to remain on amicable terms with me, I should have said, 'Patience, my friend'; but you have constituted yourself my enemy, therefore I say, 'What does that signify to me, sir?'"

"Well, let it be three weeks, then," said Morcerf; "but remember, at the expiration of that time no delay or subterfuge will justify you in"

"M. Albert de Morcerf," said Beauchamp, rising in his turn, "I can not throw you out of window for three weeks,―that is to say, for twenty-four days to come,―nor have you any right to split my skull open till that time has elapsed. To-day is the 29th of August; the 21st of September will, therefore, be the conclusion of the term agreed on, and till that time arrives,―and it is the advice of a gentleman which I am about to give you,―till then we will refrain from growling and barking like two dogs chained within sight of each other."

When he had concluded this speech, Beauchamp bowed coldly to Albert, turned his back upon him, and retired to his printing-office. Albert vented his anger on a pile of newspapers, which he scattered by switching them violently with his stick; after which he departed