“With pleasure. You take it coolly, Count,” he said as we shook hands.
CHAPTER VI
THE DUEL, AND AFTER
It was a glorious morning, the air crisp, fresh and clear, when I rose early, and found Spernow waiting for me in the courtyard of the hotel. He introduced his friend, Captain Zoiloff, who would act as my other second in the duel.
“I got Zoiloff to come because he’s well up in these matters,” said Spernow, “and I’m not. He’ll keep us right.”
I did not take the affair of the duel seriously; my bout with Ristich at the General’s house had shown me my greater skill, and I had no intention of even wounding him seriously, and no fear whatever that he would be able to touch me. I said as much to my companions as we walked together to the ground.
“Ristich is very mad against you for some reason or other,” said Spernow. “And he’s a hare-brained chap, so I should look out.”
“He is not much of a swordsman,” put in Zoiloff, “but he has one or two clever strokes that have served him well enough in other affairs of this kind;” and he went on to describe them. But he found me a somewhat inattentive listener, and after a short time the talk turned to other matters.
We were first on the ground, and Captain Zoiloff promptly set to work to choose the most suitable spot, and the positions which we should respectively take up. He displayed a manifest relish for the task, and was evidently an old campaigner in this sort of thing.
He had scarcely concluded his work when the other party arrived, bringing with them a doctor. They saluted us formally, and without any delay the seconds consulted together, decided upon the ground, and selected the weapons.
While they were thus engaged Ristich and I stood apart, and I saw that he was very pale and moody-looking, glancing every now and again at me with patent ill-feeling and animosity.