"
He made a sign to his troopers, and when the distance between us had been
sufficiently widened, I began:
"There is a man at present across the river, yonder, who has done me no
little injury, and with whom I have a rendezvous at nine o'clock to-night
at St. Sulpice des Reaux, where our swords are to determine the difference
between us. I crave, Monsieur, your permission to keep that appointment."
"Impossible!" he answered curtly.
I took a deep breath like a man who is about to jump an obstacle in his
path.
"Why impossible, Monsieur?"
"Because you are a prisoner, and therefore no longer under obligation to
keep appointments."
"How would you feel, Montr?sor, if, burning to be avenged upon a man who
had done you irreparable wrong, you were arrested an hour before the time
at which you were to meet this man, sword in hand, and your captor--whose
leave you craved to keep the assignation--answered you with the word
'impossible'?"
"Yes, yes, Monsieur," he replied impatiently. "But you forget my position.
Let us suppose that I allow you to go to St. Sulpice des Reaux.
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