Page:A Gentleman's Gentleman.djvu/242

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man must do the same. Bedad! it might be plain murder, aud nothing less."

"What if they both fire up in the air, sir?" said I.

"’T would be a miracle," cried he; and just then we drove up to the house of the priest, and the count got into the carriage.

He was wrapped up as we were, a heavy military coat covering nearly the whole of his uniform. I could see that he had been priming himself up with drink, and he spoke like a man acting a wild part. Indeed, to hear him you might have thought that there was no such dare-devil in all Europe; while what he said about the general wasn't fit for the ears of a dog. When we were sick of his boasting—and that was soon—he fell to singing snatches of French songs, bawling, "Nous, nous marierons dimanche," by which I took it that he really meant seriously by the girl who had brought all the trouble. And I was precious glad at last when the carriage turned from the high-road into the woods, and it was time for us to get out.