leton. It was the first burst of passion I had ever experienced.

The man I had surprised with my mistress was one of my most intimate
friends. I went to his house the next day, in company with a young
lawyer named Desgenais; we took pistols, another witness, and repaired
to the woods of Vincennes. On the way I avoided speaking to my adversary
or even approaching him; thus I resisted the temptation to insult or
strike him, a useless form of violence at a time when the law recognized
the code. But I could not remove my eyes from him. He was the companion
of my childhood, and we had lived in the closest intimacy for many
years. He understood perfectly my love for my mistress, and had several
times intimated that bonds of this kind were sacred to a friend, and
that he would be incapable of an attempt to supplant me, even if he
loved the same woman. In short, I had perfect confidence in him and I
had perhaps never pressed the hand of any human creature more cordially
than his.

Eagerly and curiously I scrutinized this man whom I had heard speak
of love like an antique hero and whom yet I had caught caressing my
mistress. It was the first time in my life I had seen a monster; I
measured him with a haggard eye to see what manner of man was this. He
whom I had known since he was ten years old, with whom I had lived in
the most perfect friendship, it seemed to me I had never seen him. Allow
me a comparison.

There is a Spanish play, familiar to all the world, in which a stone
statue comes to sup with a profligate, sent thither by divine justice.
The profligate puts a good face on the matter and forces himself to
affect indifference; but the statue asks for his hand, and when he
has extended it he feels himself seized by a mortal chill and falls in
convulsions.

Whenever I have loved and confided in any one, either friend or
mistress, and suddenly discover that I have been deceived, I can only
describe the effect produced on me by comparing it to the clasp of that
marble hand. It is the actual impression of marble, it is as if a man of
stone had embraced me. Alas! this horrible apparition has knocked more
than once at my door; more than once we have supped together.

When the arrangements were all made we placed ourselves in line, facing
each other and slowly advancing. My adversary fired the first shot,
wounding me in the right arm. I immediately seized my pistol in the
other hand; but my strength failed, I could not raise