“Why, I—I'm——I'm not going to fight anybody,” exclaimed he, in terror.
“No, sir, but I am; and in the event of any disastrous incident, your position may be unpleasant. If Trouville falls, you 'll have to make for Lombardy, and cross over into Switzerland; if he shoots me, you can take my passport; it is visé for the Tyrol. As they know me at Innsprück, you 'd better keep to the southward,—some of the smaller places about Botzen, or Brixen.”
“But I don't know Bo-Bo-Botzen on the map! and I don't see why I 'm to sk-sk-skulk about the Continent like a refu-refu-refugee Pole!”
“Take your own time, then; and, perhaps, ten years in a fortress may make you wiser. It's no affair of mine, you know; and I merely gave you the advice, as I 'm a little more up to these things than you are.”
“But, supposing that I 'll have no-nothing to do with the matter, that I 'll not be present, that I refuse to see—”
“You shall and you must, sir; and if I hear another word of objection out of your mouth, or if you expose me, by any show of your own poltroonery, to the ribald insolence of these Frenchmen, by Heaven! I 'll hold your hand in my own when I fire at Count Trouville.”
“And I may be mu-mu-murdered!” screamed Purvis. “An innocent man's bl-blood shed, all for nothing!”
“Bluebeard treated his wives to the same penalty for the same crime, Master Purvis. And now listen to me, sir, and mark well my words. With the causes which have led to this affair you have no concern whatever; your only business here is in the capacity of my second. Be present when the pistols are loaded; stand by as they step the ground; and, if you can do no more, try, at least, to look as if you were not going to be shot at.” Neither the counsel nor the tone it was delivered in were very reassuring; and Purvis went along with his head down and his hands in his pockets, reflecting on all the “accidents by firearms” he had read of in the newspapers, together with the more terrible paragraphs about fatal duels, and criminal proceedings against all concerned in them.
The Frenchmen were seated in the garden, at a table, and smoking their cigars, as Norwood came up, and, in a few words, explained that a countryman of his own, whom he had met by chance, would undertake the duties of his friend.
“I have only to say, gentlemen,” he added, “that he has never even witnessed an affair of this kind; and I have but to address myself to the loyal good faith of Frenchmen to supply any deficiencies in his knowledge. Mr. Purvis, Messieurs.”