“But you must—I insist, just one glass. You are now in my hands, and must do as I tell you. This is not the first affair of honour I have been engaged in by a good many, and I may say that I have been singularly fortunate bringing my men through. Before we start this evening you will have to take another glass of brandy with a few drops of laudanum in it. It will wind you up like a clock, and you will be able to see through a brick wall. That is my specific for duellists. It’s the finest thing to take under the circumstances.”
“But I don’t require any stimulant.”
“No matter whether you require it or not, I intend to have my own way, and you have but to passively submit to my dictation. Leave all to me, I am an old soldier, and know pretty well what is requisite in such cases. My dear young friend, valour is one quality, and a very important element it is, but experience is another. Be of good cheer, for although I say it myself you are in good hands.”
“I am perfectly well assured of that,” returned the earl, “and esteem myself fortunate in having the assistance and services of so valuable an ally as yourself.”
“I am not likely to allow this headstrong young man to ride roughshod over you. Act according to my instructions, and it will go hard with us if you don’t polish off your man. I intend you to do so, and that is sufficient for our purpose.”
The chevalier Gustave de Monpres was on this occasion, as he had been in many similar cases, determined to have his own way. To say the truth the earl could not possibly have enlisted the services of any one better adapted to befriend him than the chevalier.
He was duly impressed with this fact, and felicitated himself upon having applied to him on this trying occasion.
After some further conversation he took leave of his friend, with the understanding that he was to call for him on his way to the fatal spot.
Lord Reginald Ethalwood returned to the widow’s house, where he dined, and strove as best he could to assume an air of cheerfulness, which, to say the truth, he was far from feeling. The day wore on, not very brightly, it is true, but it passed over, nevertheless. On consulting his watch, the earl found that the appointed hour was fast approaching.
Unobserved by any of the inmates of Madame Trieste’s chateau he passed through the garden gate and sallied forth, and at once bent his steps in the direction of the house in which his friend the chevalier was anxiously awaiting him.