"Will you grant me a few minutes' conversation, sir?"
The young man to whom this question was addressed was about twenty-five. His regular features indicated great determination. He looked at Talizac for a moment, and then replied, very coldly:
"I am at your service, sir."
The two men then walked into an almost deserted street.
"I first wish to know your name," said the Vicomte. "I am Frederic de Talizac."
"As I am well aware."
"And I wish to know your name that I may know also, if I am to speak to you as to a gentleman, or strike you as I would a lacquey."
The young man turned very pale, but with a calmness that was absolutely terrifying under the circumstances, he replied:
"There can be nothing in common between us two."
"I am to marry Mademoiselle de Salves in a month," said Talizac, between his close shut teeth. "Yesterday, at noon, you had the impertinence, when riding past her mother's hôtel, to throw a bouquet over the garden wall."