"Have you read this article?"
"Yes," said Sempaly from between his teeth.
"Yesterday--before you went out?" Sterzl went on.
This word-for-word repetition of the prince's question touched all Sempaly's most painful and shameful recollections of the scene to the quick. His eyes flashed, but he said nothing.
Sterzl could contain himself no longer. All the bitter feelings of the last six weeks seethed in his blood, and the luckless travelling-bag caught his eye. This was too much...
What happened next?...
The general saw it all in a flash of time--unexpected, and inevitable.
Sterzl took one stride forward and struck Sempaly in the face with the newspaper. At the same moment Sempaly's servant came in with the breakfast tray.
A few minutes later Sterzl and the general went down the stairs of the embassy in silence, not even looking at each other. When they were outside the younger man stopped and drew a deep breath:
"Sempaly will send you his seconds in the course of the morning," he said; "I must ask you to act for me."