f a joke, the result
will be that, instead of fighting a duel with one man, Behrend will
have six duels on his hands."

"I will tell him in such a way that he will not ask to fight with any
of you."

"Then you will have ruined Salista."

"How so? What has he to do with it?"

"If this half-finished _rencontre_ gets wind, and it reaches the ears
of the authorities that an officer refused his adversary's third fire,
Salista will have to leave his regiment, he will be received nowhere,
and he would have to go back to the pope's army as zouave."

"For my part, I don't care if he becomes the devil's zouave! What do I
care about him? Let him go to the Sultan of Dahomey. He is only fit to
be the general of his army. For my part, he may go quite to the bad;
he is half-way there already. But who cares what happens to him? _I_
don't. Your duty is clear; you should protect your man. Isn't that
so?"

Edmund looked with astonishment at the excitement into which the
countess had thrown herself; she was trembling, and her eyes gleamed
with passion.

"This is quite a new view of the affair," he said. "If you look upon
it in this light, I must agree that we have been wrong, and you most
certainly right. I shall go at once and look for Geza; we will both
repair to Behrend, and tell him our opinion."

He bowed low before his cousin, and left. In an hour he returned. He
found Angela in the same place.

"Well, what is done? Is it all settled?"

"Listen. Geza and I went to Ivan. I explained to him that we
considered it our duty not to infringe the conditions laid down in
such matters, and that we were resolved not to allow the duel with
swords to proceed. He pressed both our hands warmly. 'I thank you,' he
said, 'for the friendship you have shown me, and since your
convictions will not allow you to stand by me in this affair, I shall
not try to persuade you. I shall go to the nearest barracks, the Karls
Kaserne, and I shall tell the first two officers I may meet that I am
engaged in an affair of honor to be fought with swords, that I am a
stranger in the town, and that I throw myself upon their kindness to
be my seconds.'"

Angela, with a despairing gesture, clasped her hands together.

"You said the truth," continued Edmund, "when you prophesied that this
man would show his teeth. He has the grip of a bull-dog when he gets
an idea. We told him that Salista was a celebrated swordsman. He took
it quite coolly. 'If the devil hi