The King's and Queen's regiments, which had always been in rivalry with each other, both happened to be stationed in the same town. This afforded a grand opportunity for constant skirmishes between them, and you may be sure such worthy opponents were not going to lose their chances.
One day a soldier of the King's regiment passed one belonging to the Queen's regiment.
The former stopped the latter and said—
"Comrade, I can tell you something you do not know."
"Well," replied the other, "if you tell it me I shall know it."
"All right I the king ... the queen."
"That is a lie," replied the other,—"it is the other way round, the queen ... the king."
One insult was as gross as the other, and could only be wiped out by duels.
About a hundred duels took place during the next twenty-four hours—three fell to my father's account.
In one of them he was cut across the forehead. Luckily his head was as tough as Duguesclin's.