examined the nobleman, with his glance accustomed to read the depths of the mind in order to divine the intentions.  He saw that Chapron’s first witness was a troublesome customer, and he continued:  “That done, I beg to read to you this little paper.”  He drew from his pocket a sheet of folded paper and placed upon the end of his nose his famous gold ‘lorgnon’:  “It is very trifling, one of those directives, as Monsieur de Moltke says, which serve to guide operations, a plan of action which we will modify after discussion.  In short, it is a landmark that we may not launch into space.”

“Pardon, sir,” interrupted Montfanon, whose brows contracted still more at the mention of the celebrated field-marshal, and, stopping by a gesture the reader, who, in his surprise, dropped his lorgnon upon the table on which his elbow rested.  “I regret very much,” he continued, “to be obliged to tell you that Monsieur Dorsenne and I”—­here he turned to Dorsenne, who made an equivocal gesture of vexation—­“can not admit the point of view in which you place yourself....  You claim that we are here to arrange a reconciliation.  That is possible....  I concede that it is desirable....  But I know nothing of it and, permit me to say, you do not know any more.  I am here—­we are here, Monsieur Dorsenne and I, to listen to the complaints which Count Gorka has commissioned you to formulate to Monsieur Florent Chapron’s proxies.  Formulate those complaints, and we will discuss them.  Formulate the reparation you claim in the name of your client and we will discuss it.  The papers will follow, if they follow at all, and, once more, neither you nor we know what will be the issue of this conversation, nor should we know it, before establishing the facts.”

“There is some misunderstanding, sir,” said Ardea, whom Montfanon’s words had irritated somewhat.  He could not, any more than Hafner, understand the very simple, but very singular, character of the Marquis, and he added:  “I have been concerned in several ’rencontres’—­four times as second, and once as principal—­and I have seen employed without discussion the proceeding which Baron Hafner has just proposed to you, and which of itself is, perhaps, only a more expeditious means of arriving at what you very properly call the establishment of facts.”

“I was not aware of the number of your affairs, sir,” replied Montfanon, still more nervous since Hafner’s future son-in-law joined in the conversation; “but since it has pleased you to tell us I will take the liberty of saying to you that I have fought seven times, and that I have been a second fourteen....  It is true that it was at an epoch when the head of your house was your father, if I remember right, the deceased Prince Urban, whom I had the honor of knowing when I served in the zouaves.  He was a fine Roman nobleman, and did honor to his name.  What I have told you is proof that I have some competence in the matter of a duel....  Well, we have always held that seconds were constituted to arrange affairs that could be arranged, but also to settle affairs, as well as they can, that seem incapable of being arranged.  Let us now inquire into the matter; we are here for that, and for nothing else.”