The two gentlemen bowed, and then the same ceremony was gone through with the others. This done, the four friends sat down, but St. Luc remained standing and said to Quelus,
“M. le Comte, you have insulted M. le Comte Louis de Clermont d’Amboise, Seigneur de Bussy, who presents to you his compliments, and calls you to single combat on any day and hour, and with such arms as may please you. Do you accept?”
“Certainly; M. de Bussy does me much honor.”
“Your day and hour, M. le Comte?”
“To-morrow morning at seven o’clock.”
“Your arms?”
“Rapier and dagger, if that suits M. de Bussy.”
St. Luc bowed. Then he addressed the same questions to the others, and received the same answers.
“If we all choose the same day and hour, M. de Bussy will be rather embarrassed,” said Schomberg.
“Certainly,” replied St. Luc, “M. de Bussy may be embarrassed, but he says that the circumstance would not be new to him, as it has already happened at the Tournelles.”