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The Black Robe-Part2_WILKIE COLLINS (1824-1899)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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himself with a cigar. I had just arisen, to follow his example,



when a furiousuproar burst out at the card table.

I saw Romayne spring up, and snatch the cards out of the



General's hand. "You scoundrel!" he shouted, "you are cheating!"

The General started to his feet in a fury. "You lie!" he cried. I



attempted to interfere, but Romayne had already seen the

necessity of controlling himself. "A gentleman doesn't accept an



insult from a swindler," he said, coolly. "Accept this, then!"

the General answered--and spat on him. In an instant Romayne



knocked him down.

The blow was dealt straight between his eyes: he was a gross



big-boned man, and he fell heavily. For the time he was stunned.

The women ran, screaming, out of the room. The peaceable



Commander trembled from head to foot. Two of the men present,

who, to give them their due, were no cowards, locked the doors.



"You don't go," they said, "till we see whether he recovers or

not." Cold water, assisted by the landlady's smelling salts,



brought the General to his senses after a while. He whispered

something to one of his friends, who immediately turned to me.



"The General challenges Mr. Romayne," he said. "As one of his

seconds, I demand an appointment for to-morrow morning." I



refused to make any appointment unless the doors were first

unlocked, and we were left free to depart. "Our carriage is



waiting outside," I added. "If it returns to the hotel without

us, there will be an inquiry." This latter consideration had its



effect. On their side, the doors were opened. On our side, the

appointment was made. We left the house.



IV.

IN consenting to receive the General's representative, it is



needless to say that I merely desired to avoid provoking another

quarrel. If those persons were really impudent enough to call at



the hotel, I had arranged to threaten them with the interference

of the police, and so to put an end to the matter. Romayne



expressed no opinion on the subject, one way or the other. His

conduct inspired me with a feeling of uneasiness. The filthy



insult of which he had been made the object seemed to be rankling

in his mind. He went away thoughtfully to his own room. "Have you



nothing to say to me?" I asked. He only answered: "Wait till

to-morrow."



The next day the seconds appeared.

I had expected to see two of the men with whom we had dined. To



my astonishment, the visitors proved to be officers of the

General's regiment. They brought proposals for a hostile meeting



the next morning; the choice of weapons being left to Romayne as

the challenged man.



It was now quite plain to me that the General's peculiar method

of card-playing had, thus far, not been discovered and exposed.



He might keep doubtful company, and might (as I afterward heard)

be suspected in certain quarters. But that he still had,



formally-speaking, a reputation to preserve, was proved by the

appearance of the two gentlemen present as his representatives.



They declared, with evidentsincerity, that Romayne had made a

fatal mistake; had provoked the insult offered to him; and had



resented it by a brutal and cowardlyoutrage. As a man and a

soldier, the General was doubly bound to insist on a duel. No



apology would be accepted, even if an apology were offered.

In this emergency, as I understood it, there was but one course



to follow. I refused to receive the challenge.

Being asked for my reasons, I found it necessary to speak within



certain limits. Though we knew the General to be a cheat, it was

a delicate matter to dispute his right to claim satisfaction,



when he had found two officers to carry his message. I produced

the seized cards (which Romayne had brought away with him in his



pocket), and offered them as a formal proof that my friend had

not been mistaken.



The seconds--evidently prepared for this circumstance by their

principal--declined to examine the cards. In the first place,



they said, not even the discovery of foul play (supposing the

discovery to have been really made) could justify Romayne's



conduct. In the second place, the General's high character made

it impossible, under any circumstances, that he could be



responsible. Like ourselves, he had rashly associated with bad




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