, however, was really one between two rival papers, _La
Presse_ and _Le Globe_, which had long been at daggers drawn. Granier
de Cassagnac, the editor of _Le Globe_, was the brother-in-law of de
Beauvallon, and Emile de Girardin, the proprietor of _La Presse_, had
systematically held him up to ridicule in his columns. Hence, when the
news of the restaurant fracas leaked out among the cafe gossipers, the
result was that everybody said: "il n'y eut qu'une voix pour dire
'c'est le _Globe_ qui veut se battre avec la _Presse_.'"

Dujarier, who had no stomach for fighting--except with his pen--would
have backed out if he could. But he could not. Things had already gone
too far. Accordingly, he referred the visitors to his friends, Arthur
Bertrand (a god-son of the Emperor) and Charles de Boignes, and then
hurried off to consult them himself.

"Pistols for two and coffee for one," was their decision when they
heard what he had to tell them. There was, they were emphatic, no
other way by which he could satisfy his "honour." The code demanded
it.

Clutching at a straw, Dujarier next sought counsel of Alexandre Dumas.

"I don't know why I am fighting," he said.

If it came to that, Dumas shared his ignorance. Still, he insisted
that a "meeting" was inevitable.

This was the case. For a Frenchman to refuse to "go out"--no matter
what his reason--would be to incur social ignominy. He would be looked
upon as a pariah; not a hand would be offered him; and he would have
bundles of white feathers showered upon him by his former
acquaintances.

It was all very ridiculous. Still, it must be remembered that "the
period was one when journalists aped fine gentlemen, and killed
themselves for nothing." Ferdinand Bac declares that this practice was
"largely the fault of Dumas, who, in his romances, would describe
lovely women throwing themselves between the combatants to effect
their reconciliation."

Since a meeting could be a serious affair, the seconds were naturally
anxious to protect themselves. Accordingly, the four of them, putting
their heads together, drew up a document which, in the event of
untoward consequences occurring, would, they felt, absolve them of
responsibility:

"We, the undersigned, state that, as the result of a disagreement, M.
de Beauvallon has provoked M. Dujarier in a fashion that makes it
impossible for him to refuse an encounter. We ourselves have done all
we can to reconcile these gentlemen; and it i