e presence of this wrath the gloomy
immobility of the man in the cloak,--any one who could have beheld this
would have been frightened. There was in it a touch of the combat of Don
Juan and the statue.

"Christ and Satan!" exclaimed the captain. "That is a word which rarely
strikes the ear of a Chateaupers! Thou wilt not dare repeat it."

"Thou liest!" said the shadow coldly.

The captain gnashed his teeth. Surly monk, phantom, superstitions,--he
had forgotten all at that moment. He no longer beheld anything but a
man, and an insult.

"Ah! this is well!" he stammered, in a voice stifled with rage. He
drew his sword, then stammering, for anger as well as fear makes a
man tremble: "Here! On the spot! Come on! Swords! Swords! Blood on the
pavement!"

But the other never stirred. When he beheld his adversary on guard and
ready to parry,--

"Captain Phoebus," he said, and his tone vibrated with bitterness, "you
forget your appointment."

The rages of men like Phoebus are milk-soups, whose ebullition is calmed
by a drop of cold water. This simple remark caused the sword which
glittered in the captain's hand to be lowered.

"Captain," pursued the man, "to-morrow, the day after to-morrow, a month
hence, ten years hence, you will find me ready to cut your throat; but
go first to your rendezvous."

"In sooth," said Phoebus, as though seeking to capitulate with himself,
"these are two charming things to be encountered in a rendezvous,--a
sword and a wench; but I do not see why I should miss the one for the
sake of the other, when I can have both."

He replaced his sword in its scabbard.

"Go to your rendezvous," said the man.

"Monsieur," replied Phoebus with some embarrassment, "many thanks for
your courtesy. In fact, there will be ample time to-morrow for us to
chop up father Adam's doublet into slashes and buttonholes. I am obliged
to you for allowing me to pass one more agreeable quarter of an hour.
I certainly did hope to put you in the gutter, and still arrive in time
for the fair one, especially as it has a better appearance to make the
women wait a little in such cases. But you strike me as having the air
of a gallant man, and it is safer to defer our affair until to-morrow.
So I will betake myself to my rendezvous; it is for seven o'clock, as
you know." Here Phoebus scratched his ear. "Ah. _Corne Dieu_! I had
forgotten! I haven't a sou to discharge the price of the garret, and the
old crone will insist on