“I am not surprised,” he remarked simply, adding in a lower tone, “the game he was playing could scarcely end otherwise. Well, I must leave you here, and see this fellow. I will be at the theatre as soon as possible.”
About the middle of the second act he dropped quietly into the seat beside me.
“What success?” I whispered.
He shook his head. “None. I fear Szalay must fight, and if he does——” He gave an expressive shrug.
When the act was over we strolled out for coffee and a cigarette.
“De Hayn means to fight,” Von Lindheim said in answer to my inquiry. “Paulssen was instructed not to entertain any suggestion of an apology or explanation. Szalay is a dead man.”
“Can’t we have the affair stopped?” I suggested. “Surely it is not countenanced by the law.”
“No; but winked at, and, in the army, permitted under certain circumstances. There is only one chance that I see. The Chancellor is against duelling; he thinks it retrograde, and he is all for progress. If I could contrive that he had wind of it——”
A smart young fellow had come up to us and clapped him on the shoulder.
“My dear Von Lindheim, the Baroness Fornbach has sent me to tell you that she has been trying for the last half-hour to catch your eye. But you are full of secrets this evening. You are to come to her box without fail, and disclose them to her. No; seriously, she wants to see you. Of course bring your friend.”