"What is that?"
"That all lost time is irreparable, and that one never arranges an affair so well as when everything has been done to embroil the dispute as much as possible."
"Ah! indeed, that is the principle on which you proceed."
"Thoroughly; so as soon as a quarrel takes place, I bring the two parties together."
"Exactly."
"You understand that by this means it is impossible for an affair not to be arranged."
"I should have thought that, treated in this manner, an affair would, on the contrary—"
"Oh! not the least in the world. Just fancy now, I have had in my life something like a hundred and eighty to a hundred and ninety regular duels, without reckoning hasty encounters or chance meetings."
"It is a very handsome number," said Raoul, unable to resist a smile.
"A mere nothing; but I am so gentle. D'Artagnan reckons his duels by hundreds. It is very true he is a little too hard and sharp—I have often told him so."