“I haven't a doubt of it.”
“Then I must contrive to see him first.”
Early the following morning Orange presented himself at the house of an old, very devout priest of his acquaintance.
“Father,” said he, “this afternoon or to-morrow I may be in circumstances of danger.”
“What danger is this?” asked the priest.
“There is a man whom I may be compelled, in defence of my honour, to challenge to a duel.”
“To approach the Sacrament in such a frame of mind,” said the old man, “is not to prepare yourself for danger. For to come to confession with a determination of taking vengeance is to put an obstacle to the grace of the Sacrament. You must preserve your honour by some other way. Indeed, the honour you think to preserve by this is not real honour, but merely the estimation of bad men founded on bad principles.”
“I know,” said Orange, hotly; “it is impossible, however, to withdraw now.”
“If you should be beaten,” returned the other, who had been in the army himself as a youth, and could comprehend the worldly view of the situation, “if you should be beaten, what becomes of the honour you wish to defend? And if you should be killed in that state of soul in which you go to the duel, you will go straight to hell and everlasting shame.”