"Show him in," said the count.
Cherami, fashionably dressed and perfumed as in his halcyon days, presented himself before the count, who stepped forward to meet him.
"I beg you, monsieur le comte, do not rise! I understand that you are still weak; and I am too fortunate in being allowed to pay my respects to you and to offer my apologies for my insane behavior toward you."
"Let us say no more about it, Monsieur Cherami; you wanted a duel with me, and you had it—it's all over with now. Pray be seated, and just tell me, between ourselves, who those two individuals were who acted as your seconds? You will agree that their aspect—their whole manner—was very comical; and I would stake my head that it was the first time they were ever present at a duel."
"Faith! that's the truth, monsieur le comte; but what would you have? Everybody that I relied upon failed me, and I had no choice; I persuaded, albeit with much difficulty, those two men of business to attend me on the field of honor."
"The elder, monsieur le comte, deals in water from Mont-Dore on a large scale; the younger is his clerk."
"Are they Auvergnats?"
"Yes, monsieur le comte."
"I would have bet anything on it. However, the younger one is as strong as an ox, apparently, for they tell me that he carried me in his arms to my carriage."