Also he had
found him incomprehensibly inconsistent. When first this
spadassinicide business had been proposed to him, he had been so
very lofty and disdainful. Yet, having embraced it, he went about
it at times with a ghoulish flippancy that was revolting, at times
with a detachment that was more revolting still.
Their preparations were made quickly and in silence, yet without
undue haste or other sign of nervousness on either side. In both
men the same grim determination prevailed. The opponent must be
killed; there could be no half-measures here. Stripped each of coat
and waistcoat, shoeless and with shirt-sleeves rolled to the elbow,
they faced each other at last, with the common resolve of paying
in full the long score that stood between them. I doubt if either
of them entertained a misgiving as to what must be the issue.
Beside them, and opposite each other, stood Le Chapelier and the
young captain, alert and watchful.
"Allez, messieurs!"
The slender, wickedly delicate blades clashed together, and after
a momentary glizade were whirling, swift and bright as lightnings,
and almost as impossible to follow with the eye.
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