Beyond reporting the circumstance of the Guards being summoned during the evening of October 26 to keep the peace, the daily papers gave no details of what passed in the reception-rooms of one of the King’s ministers;[135] a variety of inaccurate versions found easy credence, and one other blunder was added to the acts of a blundering ministry. [Sidenote: AN IMMATURE DUELLIST.] De Vergy was true to his tryst. ‘Here am I, sir, in fighting trim, only let me ask you a question. Are you minister plenipotentiary or a captain of dragoons? because if you are a minister I retire.’ ‘I am delighted to see you, for I have been expecting you. To you, I am simply a dragoon.’ D’Eon then secured the door, intending to detain his visitor until he had sent word to the Embassy that de Vergy was with him. ‘Do not touch me!’ cried de Vergy in alarm; ‘do not touch me!’ ‘What!’ said D’Eon smiling, ‘you come to me in fighting trim, and are afraid lest I should touch you? No. I merely intend that you shall be arrested.’ Then, leading him into his bed-chamber where were writing materials: ‘I require you to read this note, and sign it in duplicate.’ De Vergy started at seeing a brace of cavalry pistols and a sabre. ‘Do not kill me!’ D’Eon lay a pistol on the floor, and putting his foot on it said: ‘There, it won’t bite you. Now, sign with a will.’ ‘I, the undersigned, promise the Chevalier D’Eon, Captain of Dragoons, on my word of honour, that I will produce at the French Embassy in London, in the course of fifteen days, or at the furthest, one month, proper letters of recommendation from persons well known, or in office, at Versailles or Paris; failing which, I again give my word of honour to M. D’Eon that I shall never in future make my appearance before the Count and Countess de Guerchy, except as a very great, one of the greatest of adventurers.’ ‘London, October 27, 1763, At a quarter past ten in the morning.’ De Vergy quickly put his name to both slips, and was making for the door when D’Eon stopped him. ‘I must trouble you to leave by the back way; my friends only pass through that door. Tell me who you are, or I shall hand you over to the Embassy.’ ‘M. D’Eon, do not detain me here or I am a lost man.’ ‘Well, Mr. Adventurer, you may go; I do not wish for the death of a sinner, but rather for his conversion. If you bring letters and prove to me that you are an honest man, I shall be a good friend to you.’ D’Eon at once sent the duplicate of de Vergy’s declaration to the ambassador, who complimented him upon his honourable behaviour; and de Vergy, having made the best of his way to the police-court, to lodge a complaint against the man who had been bullying him that morning, the Chevalier received the following notice in the course of the day:—