"But
I'll stand by you with all my heart, Andrea."
"And you'll avenge me?" he cried savagely, his Southern blood a-boiling.
"You'll not let him leave the ground alive?"
"Not unless my opponent commits the indiscretion of killing me first. Who
seconds M. de Canaples?"
"The Marquis de St. Auban and M. de Montm?dy."
"And who is the third in our party?"
"I have none. I thought that perhaps you had a friend."
"I! A friend?" I laughed bitterly. "Pshaw, Andrea! beggars have no
friends. But stay; find Stanislas de Gouville. There is no better blade
in Paris. If he will join us in this frolic, and you can hold off Canaples
until either St. Auban or Montm?dy is disposed of, we may yet leave the
three of them on the field of battle. Courage, Andrea! Dum spiramus,
speramus."
My words seemed to cheer him, and when presently he left me to seek out the
redoubtable Gouville, the poor lad's face was brighter by far than when he
had entered my room.
Down in my heart, however, I was less hopeful than I had led him to
believe, and as I dressed after he had gone, 't was not without some
uneasiness that I turned the matter over in my mind.
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