"Your opinion of impertinence, Mr. Belfort, appears to differ from that of other people, and I fear you are not an authority on the subject," I replied, and I think there was no break in my voice, "yet I am willing to discuss the subject in any fashion you wish until we shall have reached some sort of a conclusion." I knew he was bent upon forcing a quarrel upon me, and I did not see how I could honorably make further attempts to avoid it. "Nonsense!" exclaimed Catron. "You shall not quarrel. I am your host, and I forbid it. You have both taken too much wine, and the code does not demand that hot words spoken at three o'clock in the morning shall breed sparks the next day." Now, I had drank very little wine, and Catron knew it, but he included me in his indictment in order to ease Belfort, and I did not object. I waited, willing, even after what had been said, that peace should be made between us, but Belfort shook his head. "Lieutenant Melville's words amounted to a challenge," he said, "and I would deem myself but the small part of a man if I refused it." "I have nothing to withdraw," I interrupted. It seemed best to me to have it out with Belfort. I had been willing to smooth over all differences with him until he made Mary Desmond the issue between us. Somehow I could not pass that by, although she might never be anything to either him or me. Even in that moment when the quarrel was hot upon me, I wondered at the hold this Tory girl had taken upon my mind,--a girl whom I had seen but two or three times, and from whom I had received nothing but haughtiness. "So be it, then," said Catron, impatiently, "but I trust that both of you will permit me to say what I think of you." "Certainly! Tell us!" I said. "Then I think you are both confounded fools to push a quarrel and cut each other up with pistol bullets or sword blades when you might dwell together in peace and friendship. Moreover, you have disturbed the game." "We can go on with the cards," I suggested, "and Lieutenant Belfort and I will settle our affairs later." "Of course," replied Catron. "You cannot fight at night, and we will meet here to-morrow in the afternoon to arrange for this business that you and Belfort seem bent on transacting. Meanwhile we will make the most of the night's remainder." A few moments later we were absorbed in the cards, and the subject of the duel seemed to be banished from the minds of all, save those most concerned. "What do you think of it?" I asked Marcel, when I was first able to speak to him, unheard by others. "It is unfortunate, on the whole, though you are not to blame," he replied, pursing up his lips. "If you were to run him through with your sword, his inquisitive tongue would be silenced and his suspicious eyes shut forever. And yet I would not wish you to do that." "Nor I," I said with deep conviction.