"He can! he can!" they cried, "and without staining his honor in the slightest."
Zodomirsky stood motionless.
"The Captain consents," said old Pravdine, advancing. "Yes, in the future he will be less prompt."
"It is you who speak, Captain, and not M. Zodomirsky," said Stamm.
"Will you affirm my words, Monsieur Zodomirsky?" asked Pravdine, almost supplicating in his eagerness.
"I consent," said Zodomirsky, in a voice scarcely intelligible.
"Hurrah! hurrah!" cried all the officers, enchanted with this termination. Two or three threw up their caps.
"I am more charmed than any one," said Stamm, "that all has ended as I desired. Now, Captain, I have shown you that before a resolute man the art of shooting is nothing in a duel, and that if the chances are equal a good shot is on the same level as a bad one. I did not wish in any case to kill you. Only I had a great desire to see how you would look death in the face. You are a man of courage; accept my compliments. The pistols were not loaded." Stamm, as he said these words, fired off his pistol. There was no report!
Zodomirsky uttered a cry which resembled the roar of a wounded lion.
"By my father's soul!" he cried, "this is a new offense, and more insulting than the first. Ah! it is ended, you say? No, Monsieur, it must recommence, and this time the pistols shall be loaded, if I have to load them myself."