irst blood. I want to chastise a puppy. I am far from wishing to
rob France of a soldier."
These conditions were pronounced absurd by M. du Marnet's seconds. They
accepted them, nevertheless, for the military code requires one to face
all dangers, however absurd.
Fougas devoted the rest of the day to worrying the poor Renaults. Proud
of the control he exercised over Clementine, he declared his wishes;
swore he would take her for his wife as soon as he had recovered his
rank, family, and fortune, and prohibited her to dispose of herself
before that time. He broke openly with Leon and his parents, refused to
accept their good offices any longer, and quitted their house after a
serious passage of high words. Leon concluded by saying that he would
only give up his betrothed with life itself. The Colonel shrugged his
shoulders and turned his back, carrying off, without stopping to
consider what he was doing, the father's clothes and the son's hat. He
asked M. Rollon for five hundred francs, engaged a room at the _Hotel du
Cadron-bleu_, went to bed without any supper, and slept straight through
until the arrival of his seconds.
There was no necessity for giving him an account of what had passed the
previous day. The fogs of punch and sleep dissipated themselves in an
instant. He plunged his head and hands into a basin of fresh water, and
said:
"So much for my toilet! Now, _Vive l'Empereur!_ Let's go and get into
line!"
The field selected by common consent was the parade-ground--a sandy
plain enclosed in the forest, at a good distance from the town. All the
officers of the garrison betook themselves there of their own accord;
there would have been no need of inviting them. More than one soldier
went secretly and billeted himself in a tree. The _gendarmerie_ itself
ornamented the little family _fete_, with its presence. People went to
see an encounter in chivalric tourney, not merely between the infantry
and the cavalry, but between the old army and the young. The exhibition
fully satisfied public expectation. No one was tempted to hiss the
piece, and everybody had his money's worth.
Precisely at nine o'clock, the combatants entered the lists, attended by
their four seconds and the umpire of the field. Fougas, naked to the
waist, was as handsome as a young god. His lithe and agile figure, his
proud and radiant features, the manly grace of his movements, assured
him a flattering reception. He made his English horse
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