day the colonel, strolling under the elms growing near his quarters, in the company of his second in command, opened his lips. </p> <p> &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to the bottom of this affair,&rdquo; he remarked. The lieut.-colonel, a dry, brown chip of a man with short side-whiskers, pricked up his ears at that without letting a sign of curiosity escape him. </p> <p> &ldquo;It&rsquo;s no trifle,&rdquo; added the colonel, oracularly. The other waited for a long while before he murmured: </p> <p> &ldquo;Indeed, sir!&rdquo; </p> <p> &ldquo;No trifle,&rdquo; repeated the colonel, looking straight before him. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve, however, forbidden D&rsquo;Hubert either to send to or receive a challenge from Feraud for the next twelve months.&rdquo; </p> <p> He had imagined this prohibition to save the prestige a colonel should have. The result of it was to give an official seal to the mystery surrounding this deadly quarrel. Lieut. D&rsquo;Hubert repelled by an impassive silence all attempts to worm the truth out of him. Lieut. Feraud, secretly uneasy at first, regained his assurance as time went on. He disguised his ignorance of the meaning of the imposed truce by slight sardonic laughs, as though he were amused by what he intended to keep to himself. &ldquo;But what will you do?&rdquo; his chums used to ask him. He contented himself by replying &ldquo;Qui vivra verra&rdquo; with a little truculent air. And everybody admired his discretion. </p> <p> Before the end of the truce Lieut. D&rsquo;Hubert got his troop. The promotion was well earned, but somehow no one seemed to expect the event. When Lieut. Feraud heard of it at a gathering of officers, he muttered through his teeth, &ldquo;Is that so?&rdquo; At once he unhooked his sabre from a peg near the door, buckled it on carefully, and left the company without another word. He walked home with measured steps, struck a light with his flint and steel, and lit his tallow candle. Then snatching an unlucky glass tumbler off the mantelpiece he dashed it violently on the floor. </p> <p> Now that D&rsquo;Hubert was an officer of superior rank there could be no question of a duel. Neither of them could send or receive a challenge without rendering himself amenable to a court-martial. It was not to be thought of. Lieut. Feraud, who for many days now had experienced no real desire to meet Lieut. D&rsquo;Hubert arms in hand, chafed again at the systematic injustice of fate. &ldquo;Does he think he will escape me in that way?&rdquo; he thought, indignantly. He saw in this promotion an intrigue, a conspiracy, a cowardly manoeuvre. That colonel knew what he was doing. He had hastened to recommend his favourite for a step.