"We were to place ourselves ten paces apart, and then fire at each other."
"And for what object may I ask?"
"So I would kill you or you would kill me."
"That would probably have been the case at that distance unless we were very poor shots. But if one is so anxious to kill people, one should at least tell me why."
"I want to kill you—because I hate you."
"Bah!"
"Do not sneer, M. de Pont Brillant, do not sneer."
"It is very difficult not to, but I'll try simply to oblige you. You hate me, you say, and why?"
"The cause of my hatred concerns you as little as my name."
"Do you really think so?"