“Where were you last night?” asked Helen of her father, the morning after the duel. “I had one of my nervous attacks and went to your room to get the remedy which I knew was in your portmanteau. It was raining hard. I remained in your room until half-past twelve. I slept little, but supposed you were on the vessel. I went to your room again at four o’clock and found the door locked. Why did you come home from the vessel at such an unseemly hour?”
The Admiral attempted to explain matters without disclosing the real reason for his absence from home, but his daughter subjected him to a line of cross-questioning which left his story, at the close, in a most pitiable condition as regarded probability and continuity. Finally, in a state of mental despair, the Admiral cried:
“Well, Helen, I’ll tell you the truth. The fact is, Victor had a quarrel with a Corsican and they fought a duel. I didn’t wish it to become known on the ship, so I acted as his second. Now you have the whole of it, so far as I am concerned. If you wish to know more, get it from Victor.”
In a short time, Victor’s well-known double knock was heard at the door. No sooner had he entered than Helen began questioning him in regard to the duel. He did not feel disposed to disclose the real cause of his first controversy with Count Mont d’Oro. He simply said that the Count insulted him and he knocked him down.
“Of course, I expected a challenge,” he continued, “and we had it out in good old-fashioned style. I remembered what you said, Miss Helen, about the brave old Roman soldiers, but I could not obtain any swords used in the Gallic war, so I chose axes as being the nearest approach to them. It is a wonder he did not cut me into pieces, for he fought like a madman.”
“Bless my soul!” ejaculated the Admiral. “As I told you at the time, you had a most re-mark-a-ble escape from death.”
Helen could not refrain from expressing her admiration for the young sailor who had dared to meet his enemy in single combat.
“You are a brave young man, Lieutenant Duquesne,” she exclaimed, “and for that reason, and that only, will I forgive you for several very sarcastic remarks which you made to me on the way from Malta to Genoa.”
“Miss Enright,” said Victor, in the gravest possible manner, “if I were sure that you would forgive me for all my misdeeds during my acquaintance with you, I should not hesitate to fight a duel every day for a week.”
“I am not sure that such a course would balance the account,” said Helen, “but I am very glad that I came to Corsica. It is my constant desire to see or hear something new.”