“Here are the journals of St. Pierre, in which there are several accounts of the duel, most of them incorrect. Some say that you were twice wounded, others once.”
“I dare say they thought so,” replied the captain, “for Cross tells me that I was carried home. It’s very singular that I should have fought in such a condition. Thank you, Mr —; I will read them when I have lain down a little, for I am tired again already.”
The surgeon then informed the captain of the death of Captain W.
“Poor fellow!” replied Captain Delmar. “Well, I will not make any appointments until I am better.” The captain then lay down again, leaving the newspapers on the coverlet.
A week now passed, during which both the captain and I became nearly convalescent: we had both been out of bed, and had remained for a few hours on the sofas in our respective rooms. The surgeon told me that it would be necessary to tell him the truth very soon, and that he thought he would do so on the following day. It did, however, happen that the discovery was not made to him by the surgeon. In the afternoon, when the latter was on board, Captain Delmar felt so strong that he resolved to put on his clothes, and go into the sitting-room. He desired Cross to give them to him, and the first articles handed to him were his trowsers, and Bob quite forgot that I had worn them.
“Why, how’s this?” said the captain—“here’s a hole through the waistband, and they are bloody.”
Bob was so frightened, that he walked out of the room as if he had not heard what the captain had said. It appears that the captain took up his coat, and discovered another hole in the shoulder, with the same marks of blood.
“This is quite a dream,” said the captain, talking to himself—“I’ve no wound, and yet the newspapers say that I was wounded twice. Cross! Cross!—Where is Cross?”
Bob, who had taken refuge in my room, where we overheard everything he said, whispered, “It’s no use now, Mr Keene,—I must tell it all; never fear me, I know how to do it.” And then he obeyed the captain’s summons, leaving me in a state of great nervous anxiety.
“Cross,” said the captain sternly, “I insist upon knowing the truth: I have been deceived by my officers. Did I, or did I not, fight this duel?”