“If I can,” I replied, shortly and sternly.
“Good. But Heaven knows what will happen afterwards. Though if the thing gets wind your meeting may be prevented. Old Kolfort will be mad; and if he had a tool there, as is most probable, you may be arrested before morning.”
“I never thought of that, or I would have finished the thing on the spot.”
“And gained the reputation of having killed a man in his cups. Thank Heaven you didn’t think of it. I suppose the man means to fight, but, like his master, Kolfort, he’s such a snake you never know what he does mean till he has done it.”
“No man who spoke as he did could hope to escape a fight,” I replied, growing uneasy at his words. “What do you suspect? After a blow, too, he must fight.”
“He’s the sort of man who’d be capable of anything. He might insult you openly like that, send the challenge, and then have you seized secretly and shut up, and when you didn’t appear on the ground in the morning, post you for a coward. I know him.”
“It would be an infernal move!” I cried hotly.
“It would be reckoned a smart Russian trick,” said Zoiloff drily.
“Then, we’ll checkmate it. We’ll have enough men here to make my arrest impossible; or, better still, perhaps I’ll pass the night somewhere else. You and Spernow can arrange all the preliminaries of the meeting, and appoint a meeting somewhere to-morrow morning, but not fix the actual ground until that appointment is kept by him and his seconds only. I will be where you can readily fetch me.”
“Good! Yes, we’ll do that. You’ll have choice of weapons. What shall they be? I should choose pistols. You’re sure to kill him.”