he broke off, "a meeting has been arranged for four o'clock at St.
Germain."

"A meeting!" I exclaimed.

"What else? Do you think the affront left any alternative?"

"But--"

"Yes, yes, I know," he interrupted, tossing his head. "I am going to be
killed. Verville has sworn that there shall be one less of the Italian
brood. That is why I have come to you, Luynes--to ask you to be my second.
I don't deserve it, perhaps. In my folly last night I did you an ill turn.
I unwittingly caused you to be stripped of your commission. But if I were
on my death-bed now, and begged a favour of you, you would not refuse it.
And what difference is there 'twixt me and one who is on his death-bed? Am
I not about to die?"

"Peste! I hope not," I made answer with more lightness than I felt. "But
I'll stand by you with all my heart, Andrea."

"And you'll avenge me?" he cried savagely, his Southern blood a-boiling.
"You'll not let him leave the ground alive?"

"Not unless my opponent commits the indiscretion of killing me first. Who
seconds M. de Canaples?"

"The Marquis de St. Auban and M. de Montmédy."

"And who is the third in our party?"