ther I got up and looked him straight in
the face, and went out, walking towards Sheveningue, sure that he would
follow me if he were a man of any mettle. When I had got to some distance
from the hotel I looked round, and saw that he was following me at a
distance of fifty paces.

When I got to the wood I stopped at a suitable place, and stood awaiting
my antagonist. He was ten paces off when he drew his sword, and I had
plenty of time to draw mine though he came on fast. The fight did not
last long, for as soon as he was near enough I gave him a thrust which
has never failed me, and sent him back quicker than he came. He was
wounded in the chest above the right breast, but as my sword was flat and
the opening large enough the wound bled easily. I lowered my sword and
ran up to him, but I could do nothing; he said that we should meet again
at Amsterdam, if I was going there, and that he would have his revenge. I
saw him again five or six years afterwards at Warsaw, and then I did him
a kindness. I heard afterwards that his name was Varnier, but I do not
know whether he was identical with the president of the National
Convention under the infamous Robespierre.

I did not return to the hotel till after the play, and I then heard that
the Frenchman, after having the surgeon with him for an hour, had set out
for Rotterdam with his friend. We had a pleasant supper and talked
cheerfully together without a word being said about the duel, with the
exception that an English lady said, I forget in what connection, that a
man of honour should never risk sitting down to dinner at an hotel unless
he felt inclined, if necessary, to fight. The remark was very true at
that time, when one had to draw the sword for an idle word, and to expose
one's self to the consequences of a duel, or else be pointed at, even by
the ladies, with the finger of scorn.

I had nothing more to keep me at the Hague, and I set out next morning
before day-break for Amsterdam. On the way I stopped for dinner and
recognized Sir James Walpole, who told me that he had started from
Amsterdam the evening before, an hour after giving the countess into her
husband's charge. He said that he had got very tired of her, as he had
nothing more to get from a woman who gave more than one asked, if one's
purse-strings were opened wide enough. I got to Amsterdam about midnight
and took up my abode at "The Old Bible." The neighbourhood of Esther had
awakened my love for that