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was not afraid, but although in love with Mdlle. Samson I did not feel my passion sufficiently strong to cut the throat of a man for the sake of her beautiful eyes, or to lose my own life to defend my budding affection. Without answering the young man, I began to pace up and down my room, and for a quarter of an hour I weighed the following question which I put to myself: Which decision will appear more manly in the eyes of my rival and will win my own esteem to the deeper degree, namely-to accept coolly his offer to cut one another's throats, or to allay his anxiety by withdrawing from the field with dignity? Pride whispered, Fight; Reason said, Compel thy rival to acknowledge thee a wiser man than he is. "What would you think of me, sir," I said to him, with an air of decision, "if I consented to give up my visits to Mdlle. Samson?" "I would think that you had pity on a miserable man, and I say that in that case you will ever find me ready to shed the last drop of my blood to prove my deep gratitude." "Who are you?" "My name is Garnier, I am the only son of M. Garnier, wine merchant in the Rue de Seine." "Well, M. Gamier, I will never again call on Mdlle. Samson. Let us be friends." "Until death. Farewell, sir." "Adieu, be happy!" Patu came in five minutes after Garnier had left me: I related the adventure to him, and he thought I was a hero. "I would have acted as you have done," he observed, "but I would not have acted like Garnier." It was about that time that the Count de Melfort, colonel of the Orleans regiment, entreated me through Camille, Coraline's sister, to answer two questions by means of my cabalism. I gave two answers very vague, yet meaning a great deal; I put them under a sealed envelope and gave them to Camille, who asked me the next day to accompany her to a place which she said she could not name to me. I followed her; she took me to the Palais-Royal, and then, through a narrow staircase, to the apartments of the Duchess de Chartres. I waited about a quarter of an hour, at the end of which time the duchess came in and loaded Camille with caresses for having brought me. Then addressing herself to me, she told me, with dignity yet very graciously, the difficulty she experienced in understanding the answers I had sent and which she was holding in her hand. At first I expressed some perplexity at the questions having emanated from her royal highness, and I told her afterwards th
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