Castrillon sat on the edge of the table, and poured out some wine.
“That is what I said,” he replied, “when I read it. So long as we are going to fight, let it be because we hate each other, and not because we have both been deceived by the same prude.”
“In other words,” said Orange, quietly, “you wish to drive a good bargain, knowing that whether you utter one insult or twenty, I can but fight you once.”
“A l'outrance, however,” answered Castrillon, dipping a biscuit into the glass.
“Yes, à l'outrance.”
“This being the case, let me tell you a few of my ideas. You find life very hard. I find it altogether amusing. I don't love a woman the less when I cease to honour her. I don't honour a man the less when I detest him. If you should kill me, M. de Hausée, it will be the most respectable occurrence in my immortality. But if I should kill you, it will be the vile conclusion of an exemplary career.”
“Your conversation is most entertaining, Monsieur. I am, unhappily, in no mood to listen to it. May I ask you to meet me to-morrow with your second at three o'clock at Calais? We can then go on to Dunkerque and settle this difference.”
“I am perfectly agreeable.”
They arranged a few more details and parted. The interview, which took place in French, is not easily reproduced in English. Orange wrote one account of the scene, and Castrillon confided another to Prince d'Alchingen, and the above is probably as nearly as possible a faithful description of what actually passed.