"You did very well; for, as you foresaw, I am without weapons at this moment. Ah! I used to have some beautiful ones in the old days! My pistols were made by Devisme; I could bring down a fly at fifty yards; but I had to let them go. What would you have? Deus dederat, Deus abstulit.—I will just put on my coat, and I am at your service."
"This is a most extraordinary individual," said Auguste Monléard to himself as he listened.
The Latin with which Cherami sprinkled his discourse, and his air of good-breeding, had modified the opinion he had formed of him; and he was not sorry to learn that he was not about to fight with a man devoid of breeding and education.
At last, Arthur came out from behind his screen, and saluted his adversary with all the ease of a man of the world, saying:
"Now I am at your service."
"Very good, monsieur. Doubtless you are well acquainted with this quarter, this neighborhood. It is entirely unfamiliar to me. Is there any spot hereabout where we can fight comfortably—without having to travel a couple of leagues to Vincennes or the Bois de Boulogne?"
"Wait a moment, while I think. We could go behind the Buttes Saint-Chaumont; there are some quarries there, where no one would see us. But it's rather hard to get there in a carriage; and then, too, the ground's rather uneven, and sometimes there are some low-lived rascals prowling about. But, pardieu! we have just what we want, close at hand. In the next street there's a large vacant lot, on which they're going to build, but the building isn't begun yet. No one ever passes through that street; we shall be as retired as we should be in our own house."
"But can we get into the lot?"
"Yes, indeed. On the street there's nothing but a board fence, and there's a gate in it. If there's anyone there, we'll say we are architects; that will make it all right."
"And it's not far from here?"