"You hear him!" said Vauvert; "he's crazy. Oh! he's a terrible fellow when he gets started. He has said everywhere that he proposed to have your life, or that you should have his." I could not help laughing at Raymond's bluster; and I ventured to reassure poor Vauvert, who did not know which way to turn, having never been present at such a function. At last we were joined by my adversary and the Baron de Witcheritche, the latter of whom wore a three-cornered hat, eight inches high, cocked over his left ear, which gave him the aspect of a bully from the Rue Coquenard. "Monsieur!" said Raymond, striding toward me with a warlike air, "I wrote you that I should come alone, and that was my intention; but, as I passed through the Palais-Royal, I met my friend Vauvert, who had come out to buy a roll for his second breakfast, and who, when he learned that I had an affair of honor with you, dropped everything to come with me, and----" "That is to say," interrupted Vauvert, "that you didn't tell me that that was what was up, and that I didn't find it out till we got to the barrier; for, when you saw me, you grabbed my arm and didn't give me time to pay for my newspaper." Raymond pretended not to hear what Vauvert said, and continued: "So I yielded to his urgent entreaties. Besides, he is as much your friend as mine, and his presence cannot be disagreeable to you. As for Monsieur le Baron de Witcheritche, we met him at the barrier, going out to dine in the country with his good wife. I thought it better to have two seconds than one, because then I could let you have one of them. Monsieur de Witcheritche consented to leave madame la baronne, who is waiting for him under the trees not far away. He will be my second then, and Monsieur Vauvert yours, if agreeable to you." Monsieur le baron, who had bowed every time that his name was mentioned, took his place beside Raymond, and Vauvert stood behind me. "Monsieur Raymond," said I, "it seems to me that we might very well settle this affair between ourselves, without troubling these gentlemen. I am afraid that madame la baronne may get wet during our engagement, and Vauvert would be better off at his desk than here." "That is true enough," said Vauvert, who asked nothing better than to go away; "I have a great deal of work to do to-day, and I'm afraid I shall be reproved by my deputy chief clerk." "Matame la paronne, she haf ov te shtorm no fear; she loaf mooch to see te lidening flashes," said Monsieur de Witcheritche, smiling so expansively that his mouth seemed to reach from ear to ear. "Well, since these gentlemen have been good enough to come," said I, with a smile, "it must not be for nothing; so I accept Monsieur Vauvert for my second." Vauvert fell back with an air of dismay. "Don't be alarmed," I said to him; "seconds rarely fight; if, however, I should fall, and you should choose to avenge me, it will be in your power."