These unlucky words had been scarcely uttered, when Monsieur George
started his horse at a gallop.

"Are you mad?" I said to De Breuilly, who was trying to detain me; "and
what means such an invention?"

"My friend," he replied, "it was necessary to divert that boy's mind at
any cost."

I shrugged my shoulders. I freed myself from him and dashed after Monsieur
George; but, being better mounted than myself, he had already gained
considerable advance. I was still a hundred paces behind him when he
overtook Monsieur de Mauterne, who had stopped on hearing him coming. It
seemed to me that they were exchanging a few words, and almost at once I
saw Monsieur George's whip lashing several times, and with a sort of fury,
Monsieur de Mauterne's face. We barely arrived in time, Monsieur de
Breuilly and myself, to prevent that scene from assuming an odious
character of brutality.

A meeting having unfortunately become inevitable between the parties, we
took with us the two friends who accompanied Mauterne, Messieurs de
Quiroy and Astley, the latter an Englishman. Monsieur George had preceded
us to the chateau. The choice of weapons belonged without any possible
doubt to our adversary. Nevertheless, having noticed that his seconds
seemed to hesitate with a sort of indifference, or perhaps of
circumspection between swords and pistols, I thought that we might, with a
little good management, influence their decisions in the direction least
unfavorable to us. We went, therefore, Monsieur de Breuilly and I, to
consult Monsieur George on the subject. He pronounced at once in favor of
swords.