"Eight, then, if you wish?"
"The same applies to eight."
"And the number of shots to be two apiece. Also, in case either of us should fall, let each of us previously place in his pocket a letter laying upon himself the entire blame for his demise."
"To that condition I wholly demur," said Bazarov.
"I think that you are straying into the pages of a French novel, and away from reality."
"Possibly I am. But, also, you will agree that to incur an unmerited suspicion of murder is a prospect not pleasant to contemplate?"
"I do. Yet still there remains another method of avoiding such an awkward imputation. That is to say, though we shall have no seconds, we can have a witness."
"Whom precisely, if I might ask?"
"Peter."
"Peter? What Peter?"