contrary,
on matters of honour he was a received oracle; and even though he had
fought several duels (that was the age of duels), and was reported
without a superior, almost without an equal, in either weapon, the sword
or the pistol, he is said never to have wantonly provoked an encounter,
and to have so used his skill that he contrived never to slay, nor even
gravely to wound, an antagonist.

"I remember one instance of his generosity in this respect; for it
was much talked of at the time. One of your countrymen, who had never
handled a fencing-foil nor fired a pistol, took offence at something
M. de Mauleon had said in disparagement of the Duke of Wellington, and
called him out. Victor de Mauleon accepted the challenge, discharged his
pistol, not in the air--that might have been an affront--but so as to be
wide of the mark, walked up to the lines to be shot at, and when missed,
said, 'Excuse the susceptibility of a Frenchman loath to believe that
his countryman can be beaten save by accident, and accept every apology
one gentleman can make to another for having forgotten the respect due
to one of the most renowned of your national heroes.' The Englishman's
name was Vane. Could it have been your father?"

"Very probably; just like my father to call out any man who insulted
the honour of his country, as represented by its men. I hope the two
combatants became friends?"

"That I never heard; the duel was over; there my story ends."

"Pray go on."

"One day--it was in the midst of political events which would have
silenced most subjects of private gossip--the beau monde was startled by
the news that the Vicomte (he was then, by his father's death, Vicomte)
de Mauleon had been given into the custody of the police on the charge
of stealing the jewels of the Duchesse de (the wife of a distinguished
foreigner). It seems that some days before this event, the Duc, wishing
to make Madame his spouse an agreeable surprise, had resolved to have
a diamond necklace belonging to her, and which was of setting so
old-fashioned that she had not lately worn it, reset for her birthday.
He therefore secretly possessed himself of the key to an iron safe in
a cabinet adjoining her dressing-room (in which safe her more valuable
jewels were kept), and took from it the necklace. Imagine his dismay
when the jeweller in the Rue Vivienne to whom he carried it recognized
the pretended diamonds as imitation paste which he himself had some days