The rancher began to laugh, again slapping his friend on the leg. So hearty was his laughter that at times he raised his hand to his throat as though choking in the outbursts of his amusement.
“That’s a pretty thing, eh? So the husband is going to superintend the duel! And the fight is about his wife.... But these gringos are an amusing lot.... I’d like to see this business through! It beats anything I ever heard of....”
Then he added gravely,
“Yes, I’ll act as second. This is better than a play in Buenos Aires, or one of those movies my little girl is so crazy about....”
In the early afternoon, after lunching at the ranch, Moreno returned to the settlement; he dismounted in front of Pirovani’s house.
Torre Bianca was walking up and down in the room he used as an office. He was in mourning and looked even more unhappy and discouraged than usual. In his pacing back and forth he stopped every now and then beside a table on which was an open case containing a brace of revolvers. He had spent a good part of the afternoon cleaning the weapons and looking at them meditatively, as though the sight of them evoked distant memories. But at moments he forgot the revolvers and gazed at a photograph beside them on the table; it was his mother’s, and as he looked at it tears filled his eyes.
After a ceremonious salutation Moreno hastened to assure him that he had found another second, and that he came fully authorized by him to discuss the preparations for the duel. The marqués acknowledged his speech with a bow, and showed him the case of weapons.
“I brought them from Europe. They have played a part in several affairs at least as serious as this one. Look them over carefully. We have no others and they will have to be found acceptable by both parties.”
The government clerk indicated that he considered such an examination as the marqués suggested quite unnecessary, and that whatever the latter thought fit to suggest he would find quite acceptable.
The marqués went on talking with a courtly dignity which deeply impressed Moreno.