The question puzzled me a little, for though I strongly suspected the general nature of what the billet contained, yet I knew none of the particulars, and could not even be sure of that which I imagined. I answered, therefore, that "I did not;" and the Count rejoined, throwing the note into the fire, "Well, then, as Monsieur de Villardin has been kind enough to send me an unceremonious request, I will send him an unceremonious reply. Tell him I will accept his invitation, with all its particulars, and that I am his very obedient servant. You may add, I would have written, but that I have a great deal to do between this and night."
Charged with this ambiguous message, I returned to the Prés Vallée, and found Monsieur de Villardin playing with his little girl, while Madame de Villardin was in her own chamber, preparing to go out with him for a walk.
"Have you brought any note?" he asked me immediately, taking advantage of his wife's absence, to inquire the result of my embassy in private. I replied that I had only received a verbal answer: upon which he formed a pretext to send away the little girl, and made me give him a detailed account of all that had occurred.
"Well, well," he said, as I concluded, "it is all well. Be prepared to go out with me at six o'clock to-night, and get a spade and pick-axe privately from the garden."
I did not well know what to anticipate from these directions, for it was then in the early part of spring, and at six o'clock the evening was too far advanced to afford anything like sufficient light for a fair single combat. Nevertheless, I had, of course, nothing but to obey; and, slipping out about half past five, I got the tools from the garden; and after placing them in a spot where they were not likely to be observed, I returned to the library, where I was very soon joined by Monsieur de Villardin. His hat and cloak were already there, and I was just aiding him to put them on, when the groom, who had been despatched to Rennes, returned with a notary and the papers prepared for signature. By the calm way with which Monsieur de Villardin took this interruption, called for lights, heard the papers read, and went through all the necessary formalities for investing me with the property which he had bestowed upon me, I easily divined that he had no fixed appointment for that hour, and began to suspect the real object of his expedition. When all was concluded, and the notary sent back under a safe escort, he bade me follow him. We thus issued forth in the dusk; and having furnished ourselves with the spade and pick-axe, proceeded a short distance on the road towards Rennes.
"Now, my young friend," he said, at length, "I must trust to your guidance. I have heard that you never forgot spot, person, or thing, that you once have seen. Do you think you can now lead me to the tree, under which Monsieur de Mesnil's horse was tied, when you passed yesterday morning?"
"I think I can," I replied, "and, certainly, if not to the precise tree, I can lead you to the next one to it; for there were but two or three together, and I know the clump well."
When we reached the neighbourhood of the spot, the various objects around at once recalled to my remembrance which was the tree I sought; and, having approached it, Monsieur de Villardin measured out a space of ground beneath its branches about six feet by three, and, causing me to remove the turf in one piece, we both set vigorously to work, and, with pick-axe and spade, soon hollowed out a sufficient trench to contain the body of a man. "If I fall," he said, when we had concluded our work, "let it be remembered, that I wish this to be my grave. If I survive I will direct you what to do."
Before leaving the spot, he caused me to carry about a dozen shovelfuls of the earth away, and cast them into the river, which flowed at the distance of three or four hundred yards. We then placed the tools in the grave, and returned to the château, Monsieur de Villardin directing me previously, to be up by five the next morning, to saddle his horse with my own hands, and, leaving it prepared in the stable, to go on to the spot where he had been working, and wait there for his coming.
The coolness with which he set about all his proceedings, and my knowledge of his skill as a swordsman, made me feel very confident that the issue of the combat would be in his favour, although his adversary was his junior by near twenty years. I had seen so much of such affairs, too, that I could generally form a very good guess in regard to the result; and, from all I had observed of Monsieur de Villardin's conduct during the day, I went to bed with very little fear for his safety the next morning. I was up at the time prescribed, saddled the horse as well as I could in utter darkness, and then walked away to the tree, which I reached just as the first faint gray of the morning began to mingle with the blackness of night.