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 pormd 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