Dennis Wheatley - The Rape Of Venice

'I hope that he choose swords. A duel with pistols is always a chancy matter. Even a man who has never fired one in his life may score a lucky hit; and if you were seriously injured, I should be distressed beyond measure. The more so as it was my act in exposing his trickery, and then you protecting me from his assault, which have led to this.'

'I pray you don't give that another thought, Sir. You had every right to unmask the rogue, and no one could have foreseen that he would knock me down.' Roger drew the flame from a taper onto the tobacco in his pipe, then added, 'Frankly, though, I'd give a lot for this imbroglio to have taken some other turn, so that I'd not been forced to challenge him.'

'Since he struck you in the face, you had no option.'

'That's just the rub; and why, though I doubt his doing so, I hope he will choose swords. As I told you at breakfast, Georgina asked him here at my request, that I might have a prospect of winning him over to Mr. Pitt's interest. Were I still saddled with that I'd be in an unholy mess. But by a stroke of good fortune, later in the morning I received a despatch from Downing Street relieving me of further responsibility in the matter. Even so, should I chance to lay him low for some weeks with a pistol bullet, that would sadly prejudice the negotiations he is about to open with the Foreign Office. If, on the other hand, we fight with swords, I'll almost certainly be able to disarm him, or, at worst, give him a slight jab in the sword arm. Then there'd be no fear of regrettable repercussions afterwards.'

For some half-​hour they talked on, but in a lighter vein, then Droopy Ned joined them. Peering with his short-​sighted eyes at Roger, he said:

Tis to be at six o'clock tomorrow morning by the little temple on the far side of the lake. I fear, though, you may be somewhat disconcerted by his choice of weapons. He has chosen pikes.'

'Strap me!' exclaimed Roger. 'You can't be serious, Ned.

Droopy nodded. 'I am. Sheridan did his utmost to persuade him to accept more orthodox weapons, but he said that, being a studious and peaceable man by nature, he had never used a sword, and that an astigmatism of the eyes prevents him from shooting straight. He can hardly be blamed for selecting a weapon which will make the chances between you more even, and I did not feel that I had sound grounds for standing out against it.'

'No… no; I suppose not. But pikes, Ned! Where will we get them?'

'There are a score or more to choose from among the arms that decorate the walls of the billiards room.'

'So be it, then. What about a doctor?'

'Knowing Dr. Chudleigh to be the household leech here, I've sent a note down to the village requesting him to attend upon us. Beckford refused to act with Sheridan as the Venetian's other second; so the groom who is carrying my note to Dr. Chudleigh also bears one from Sheridan to Major Rawtort at the Red House. I gather the Major is a fire-​eater of the first water, so the odds on him refusing Sheridan's request are negligible. It remains only for you to provide yourself with another second.'

Roger turned to the Colonel. 'If you would honour me, Sir?*

'Certainly, my dear boy,' came the prompt response. 'Did I have to wait here to learn the outcome of this meeting, I'd be consumed with anxiety; now at least I'll learn it the moment It becomes apparent.'

They talked on till the clock chimed twelve, then the Colonel's two visitors wished him 'good-​night'. Droopy told Roger that he had arranged for his man to call them both at five o'clock and, after agreeing to meet down in the hall at a quarter-​to-​six, they separated to go to their rooms.

While undressing, Roger's thoughts were no longer on the duel, but on Georgina. As he was to be called at five o'clock there was no way in which he could conceal from her that it was to take place, and he knew that she would be greatly distressed about it. Resigning himself to a prospect of expostulations and argument, he put on his flowered silk chamber-​robe, and went through to her.

She was sitting up in bed and had a book open on her lap, but she was not reading. He had hardly closed the door of the boudoir, before she asked impatiently, 'Well! Have you made an end of this wretched affair?'

'Not quite,' he gave a disarming smile. 'But I hope to have before you wake in the morning.'

She stiffened. 'You mean that…,'

'I mean, my love, that, through this pestiferous fellow, I am forced to suffer another and greater injury. On his account I'll be able to spend no more than an hour with you tonight; for I must get a few hours' sleep and am to be called at five o'clock.'

"You insisted on fighting, then?'

' Twas not my wish; but I had no alternative.'

'Oh God! What fools you men are!' Georgina burst out. 'You call such meetings seeking satisfaction, yet only too often it's the offended party who gets skewered for his pains. There's neither justice nor fairness in it; for, right or wrong, the victor is he who's had most experience with weapons, and many an honest father of a family has met his death at the hands of an impudent young blackguard, because he felt in honour bound to call him out'

'In this case the blackguard is the older party, and I'd be much surprised if, by this time tomorrow, Susan finds herself an orphan.'

'Lud man! I'm not scared for you. At least, no more than any woman would be for her lover when he's about to expose himself to some chance injury. Pitted against a man so formidable with arms as you, the poor wretch will be lucky if he gets off with a month in bed nursing a slashed face or a punctured lung

"Nay; I've no intention of causing him grievous harm. I mean to disarm him if I can.'

She gave him a puzzled look. 'If you will be so easily satisfied, it makes this meeting even more senseless. Surely you would have done better when you got up from the floor to return him blow for blow. He'd not have hit you a second time, I'll be bound: and you could have left it at that.'

'Had we been in Russia, that is just what I would have done.

The nobility there indulge in fisticuffs at the least provocation, and even use their canes upon one another. Like yourself, and I admit with some reason, they, maintain that duelling settles nothing, and that the men of the western nations who resort to it are crazy. But …

Then I vow these Muscovites, whom we look on as barbarians, are more civilised than ourselves.

'Maybe, m'dear. But, as I was about to say, our customs are different. And when in Rome…'

'Oh! Roger. I know the stupid conventions that form the code of so-​called men of honour well enough. Yet only the weak follow convention slavishly; and, in this instance, the blow was intended not for you but for Papa. Surely it was a case in which you could have composed the quarrel, instead of deliberately flouting my request that it should not lead to a duel?'

He sighed. 'I'm sorry; truly sorry. Had the circumstances been slightly different I would gladly have acceded to your wish. The kernel of the matter was Sheridan being present. The others we could have bound to secrecy with a reasonable hope that they would hold their tongues, at least to the extent of making no mention of the fact that Malderini knocked me down. But you know Richard Brinsley even better than myself. It's not in his nature to refrain from telling a good story; so every detail of this affair will be all over London by Monday afternoon. Within a week, I'd have been forced to resign from my Clubs had I not insisted on the Venetian giving me satisfaction.'

'I had not thought of that,' Georgina murmured. Then her lovely face was lit once more by her warm smile and she said "You are excused, Sir; but not from having kept me talking for a part of our precious hour.' As she spoke she held out arms.