"
"Mille diables!" exclaimed St. Auban, "this insolence passes all bounds."
"Each man in his turn if you please, gentlemen," I replied. "My present
affair is with M. de Canaples."
There was a hot answer burning on St. Auban's lips, but Canaples was
beforehand with him.
"Par la mort Dieu!" he cried; "you go too far, sir, with your 'dare' and
'dare not.' Is a broken gamester, a penniless adventurer, to tell Eug?ne
de Canaples what he dares? Come, sir; since you are eager for the taste of
steel, follow me, and say your prayers as you go."
With that we left the inn, amidst a prodigious hubbub, and made our way to
the horse-market behind the H?tel Vend?me. It was not to be expected,
albeit the place we had chosen was usually deserted at such an hour, that
after the fracas at the "Soleil" our meeting would go unattended. When we
faced each other--Canaples and I--there were at least some twenty persons
present, who came, despite the rain, to watch what they thought was like to
prove a pretty fight. Men of position were they for the most part,
gentlemen of the Court with here and there a soldier, and from the manner
in which they eyed me methought they favoured me but little.
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