It will be as you please. I have no wish to disturb you.'
"'You will be kind enough to attend to your own business,' answered he, 'and to please fire, . . . but after all you may do as you like. You can always fire your shot when and where you like. I will always be at your call.'
"I went away with my witnesses to whom I said that I did not care to shoot just then and the thing ended there.
"I sent in my resignation and retired to this out-of-the-way village. From that day to this, I have thought of nothing but revenge. And now, the time has come! . . ."
Silvio drew from his pocket the letter received that morning. Someone, his lawyer it seemed, had written from Moscow that the person in question was soon to be married to a young and pretty girl.
"You can guess, I have no doubt," said Silvio, "who is the person in question. I am leaving for Moscow and we will see if he will look at death in the midst of bridal festivities with as much coolness as he did when facing it with a pound of cherries in his cap!"
After saying these words he rose and, throwing his cap viciously on the floor, he walked back and forth the length of the room like a
