he was a self-important, incompetent fellow; i could see that, and so just the man for our purpose. i had impressed upon von lindheim that his life depended on his playing his part well, and i must say there was no fault to be found with his performance. he appeared to be in great agony, while szalay and i, with a great show of excitement and distress, told the doctor a plausible tale of the sudden seizure. finally, i laid stress upon the suddenness of the attack in perfect health, and suggested ptomaine poisoning.
“assuredly,” the fellow returned, well pleased at finding himself taken for rather more than even he pretended to be. “the symptoms certainly point to the presence of poisonous matter in the system, and we must, at all events, take measures to counteract it.”
accordingly he did take measures, which the patient in turn took good care to neutralize. the doctor was so fussy and stupid that we found no difficulty in contriving that he should not make an examination which might have betrayed, even to him, the real state of the case.
presently he bustled off to prepare a draught. i offered to accompany him to his house, and hurry back with the potion, so that it might be given without delay. as i opened the door to go out a young fellow came up, an officer by his uniform, and asked [pg 56]for von lindheim. i guessed at once that he was the second of the fire-eating captain de hayn, and rejoiced that he had arrived at that moment.
i saluted him punctiliously. “herr von lindheim has, i regret to say, been taken ill, dangerously ill. it is impossible for you to see him.”
as i expected, the young fellow gave an incredulous smile.
“really, sir? my——”
i cut him short. “here is the doctor, who will confirm what i tell you. you know dr. rothmer?”
he did not know dr. rothmer, but happily that good man’s profession was unmistakable.
“it is indeed the case,” he said pompously. “herr von lindheim is seriously ill. i cannot allow you to see him.”
“if you will step in for a moment,” i said, “i will tell herr von lindheim that you are here, and will follow you, doctor, directly.” the professional was bustled off, and i took lieutenant paulssen into the dining-room.
“i presume you have called to see von lindheim about the affair in which he is acting for herr szalay. von lindheim has only just asked me to inform herr szalay of his illness, and to request him to find another second. but i hope, lieutenant, your visit may be to say that it is unnecessary; that this deplorable, this absurd affair is at an end.”
the young fellow seemed to bristle with resentful importance.
“pardon!” he returned uncompromisingly; “that is by no means my mission. and i must request you, sir, to refrain from referring to an insult to our army as absurd.”
i changed my tone to one of easy familiarity.
“of course, lieutenant, my expression absurd was very far from being applied to the honour of your [pg 57]corps, which i am sure you, as a gallant soldier, hold above everything in the world. what i meant was the idea of poor szalay measuring swords with so renowned a fighter as your principal.”
he shrugged his epauletted shoulders. “it is unfortunate,” he responded stiffly. “but herr szalay should have remembered that before uttering words of disrespect concerning captain de hayn.”
“i understand he has no recollection of having done so; he is ready——”
“pardon, mein herr,” he interrupted with a formality, brusque in its uncertain touch, “if i decline to discuss the matter with you.”
i bowed. “you have every right to do so.”
“we will stand no shuffling,” he cried. “i swear i will not eat my breakfast till the affair has come off. if herr von lindheim is ill, then herr szalay must find another friend, or take the consequences.”
“no doubt,” i replied, “if von lindheim’s illness continues, herr szalay will find another friend. but you can hardly expect him to do so by breakfast time.”
he twirled his silly little moustache, and put on one of the most stupidly offensive looks it has ever been my fortune to see on a human countenance. “you, sir,” he said blusteringly, “you seem to be at pains to champion herr szalay; what is there to prevent your acting as his friend?”
“only the fact that he has not honoured me by asking me to do so.”
“it is absurd, this attempt to play fast and loose,” he spluttered. “we shall not permit it, that i swear. i am surprised that any one should counsel delay. delay in an affair of this sort, sir, we hold as a coward’s word. and if you have any regard for your friend’s honour you will see that this business is settled at once. i shall not go to bed to-night, but [pg 58]shall expect to receive herr szalay’s friend. that is my last word; i have a duty to perform. i have the honour, sir. good evening.”
he made me a bow which was meant, no doubt, to be the quintessence of military dignity, and clattered from the room. i let him go, seeing that an appeal to common sense was worse than hopeless. then i went up, and gave the two men an account of my interview.
“clearly,” lindheim said, “even if there had ever been a doubt about it, this ridiculous duel is simply a trick of the jaguar’s to get rid of our friend.”
“i fear that is certain,” i assented.
szalay had sat in a gloomy silence, and, appreciating his feelings, i had taken little notice of him. he now rather astonished me by starting up and exclaiming, “i will fight! i will fight this duel!”
“better not,” i observed laconically.
“yes, i will!” he repeated, pacing the room in a state of nervous excitement. “don’t think me mad; it is by far the most sensible course to take. i have got to die; my life is forfeit; the jaguar never turns off from the prey he has marked down. better a thousand times fall by a soldier’s bullet in open day, when the chances are nominally equal, than be done to death in secret by one of rallenstein’s butchers. yes, my friends, i am resolved; do not try to turn me.” for we had simultaneously began to exclaim against his decision. “herr tyrrell, if you will honour me by standing my friend, it would be a great favour, the last i shall probably ask of any man; if you will see this paulssen and arrange the meeting for as soon after daybreak as possible. i have the courage now and am in the mood; who knows how long it may last?”
“it is sheer suicide,” i remonstrated; “if this de hayn is a dead shot, and you——”
[pg 59]
he laughed. “i am to die assuredly within the next forty-eight hours.”
“not necessarily!” i objected.
“you are a tower of strength, herr tyrrell,” he replied wistfully. “but even you cannot stand against our king jaguar, and in any event you will have enough to do to save our friend here. now will you go to paulssen at once? i ask you as a friend.”
he was not to be dissuaded, and perhaps both von lindheim and i had a secret feeling that, on his chances, the course he urged had something to commend it. so, after waiting for a comedy scene with the doctor, who paid us another fussy visit, during which he nearly succeeded in making his patient actually swallow a manifestly loathsome draught, i went off to lieutenant paulssen’s lodgings and arranged preliminaries for the meeting which was to take place at daybreak. my pugnacious friend was sullenly gratified, receiving my communication with a significant, “it is well.”
having a pretty shrewd idea of the fellow’s sense and capabilities, i wasted no time, but simply and curtly settled the necessary details of the meeting, and returned to von lindheim’s.
the rest of the night i spent in coaching my poor principal in the use of his weapon. i had on his behalf naturally chosen pistols for the encounter, as giving a rather better chance; with swords he would have been as a sheep before a butcher.
the poor fellow attended to my instructions in a mechanical, half-dazed fashion; he was utterly without hope, indeed, clearly in the apathy of despair. but we did our best to cheer him, and i took pains to impress upon him one or two wrinkles which might possibly give a slender chance in his favour.
in the dull grey of a chilly dawn we set out for the place of meeting, and certainly it was the most dis[pg 60]agreeable errand on which i ever started. on the way my companion tried to talk on different subjects, even to jest on his situation and its almost certain issue; but it was all so hideously forced as a cover to his despair, that it would have been far less painful to me had he kept silence.
the rendezvous was a short distance outside the city, the less frequented side of a common bordered by a plantation. being before our time we were first on the ground, and i utilized the interval of waiting in reiterating the instructions i already had given szalay; but he was in such a piteous state of nervousness that to me, as the affair had to be gone through with, it was a relief when the other party appeared. they were three: de hayn, paulssen, and a professional-looking person, evidently the surgeon whom paulssen had arranged to bring.
it seemed as though the sight of the trio and the approach of the critical moment had the effect of steadying szalay’s nerves somewhat.
“so they have brought the doctor,” he laughed; “it is just as well to do everything in order, even a murder.”
“the chances are if he hits you it won’t be in a vital part,” i said to comfort him. “now, mind; take steady aim on the first sight and get your fire in before his, it’s your best chance.”
the account given of the fire-eating captain de hayn had not been over-coloured. it seemed impossible that five feet four inches of humanity could hold a greater quantity of truculent conceit than was manifestly compressed into his personality. a greater contrast between this business-like little butcher, with his bronzed—and brazen—countenance, and poor szalay, trying to control his shaking nerves and keep a manly look on his grey face, could not be imagined. principals and seconds saluted punctiliously, and [pg 61]the doctor gave szalay and me a bow, his expression being nicely differentiated as between the humane reserve towards a dying patient, and the grave announcement of a hopeless case to his friends.
paulssen and i measured the ground, while the doctor, with professional glib deliberation, set out his case of instruments.
all was ready; we placed our men.
“bring down your pistol with decision, and fire first,” i again enjoined in a whisper.
if ever a man was sick at the irony and unfairness of life i was then, as i drew back from that poor fellow, already, as it seemed, half-dead. indeed, i remember wondering how he contrived to keep so steady. i glanced at his dapper little opponent, standing in professional duellist’s style, not the easiest of marks for a good shot; to my man practically invisible. paulssen was to give the word; the usual one! two! three! perhaps he had anticipated my instructions to szalay as to firing if possible before his adversary: the usual advice given to a novice at the game. anyhow, he made a deliberate pause between one! and two! but none between two! and three!
the reports appeared to be simultaneous; next i heard paulssen utter an oath as he rushed forward to his man, followed by the doctor. as fate would have it, the unexpected had happened. szalay was untouched, while de hayn, the victor in a dozen encounters, lay prone on the turf with a bullet through his heart.
