"My friend De Grammont will have the honor of waiting on you to-morrow
morning," he answered, bowing politely.
"I shall be delighted to see his Grace," I answered. "Good night, my
lord!"
Here was a solution of my problem in so far as it concerned my engagement
with Mary Hamilton, for if I killed her brother, she would not marry
me, and if he killed me, I could not marry her. The fact that a gleam
of joy came to me because of my unexpected release caused me to feel
that I was a coward not to have broken the engagement in an honorable,
straightforward manner rather than to have seized this opportunity to
force a duel upon her brother. It is true I had not sought the duel
deliberately and had not thought it possible one second before uttering
the word that made it necessary. Still it was my act that brought it
about, and I felt that I had taken an unmanly course.
After leaving Count Anthony I walked across the room to where Mary
was standing at the outer edge of a circle of ladies and gentlemen who
surrounded De Grammont, listening to a narrative in broken English, of
his adventures, fancied or real, I know not which, but interesting,
and all of a questionable character.
When I spoke to Mary, she turned and gave me her hand. I had not
expected the least display of emotion on her part; therefore I was not
disappointed when the smile with which she greeted me was the same she
would have given to any other man.
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