A Set of Six

Joseph Conrad

• Publisher: Youcanprint
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9788827849262
• Topic: Literatur
• Subtopic: Altertumswissenschaften

A revolutionary war raises many strange characters out of the obscurity which is the common lot of humble lives in an undisturbed state of society. Certain individualities grow into fame through their vices and their virtues, or simply by their actions, which may have a temporary importance; and then they become forgotten. The names of a few leaders alone survive the end of armed strife and are further preserved in history; so that, vanishing from men's active memories, they still exist in books. The name of General Santierra attained that cold paper-and-ink immortality. He was a South American of good family, and the books published in his lifetime numbered him amongst the liberators of that continent from the oppressive rule of Spain.

THE DUEL

A MILITARY TALE

I

Napoleon I., whose career had the quality of a duel against thewhole of Europe, disliked duelling between the officers of hisarmy. The great military emperor was not a swashbuckler, and hadlittle respectfor tradition.

Nevertheless, a story of duelling, which became a legend in thearmy, runs through the epic of imperial wars. To the surprise andadmiration of their fellows, two officers, like insane artiststrying to gild refined gold or paint the lily, pursued a privatecontest through the years of universal carnage. They were officersof cavalry, and their connection with the high-spirited butfanciful animal which carries men into battle seems particularlyappropriate. It would be difficult to imagine for heroes of thislegend two officers of infantry of the line, for example, whosefantasy is tamed by much walking exercise, and whose valournecessarily must be of a more plodding kind. As to gunners orengineers, whose heads are kept cool on a diet of mathematics, itis simply unthinkable.

The names of the two officers were Feraud and D’Hubert,and they were both lieutenants in a regiment of hussars, but not inthe same regiment.

Feraud was doing regimental work, but Lieut. D’Hubert hadthe good fortune to be attached to the person of the generalcommanding the division, as officier d’ordonnance. It was inStrasbourg, and in this agreeable and important garrison they wereenjoying greatly a short interval of peace. They were enjoying it,though both intensely warlike, because it was a sword-sharpening,firelock-cleaning peace, dear to a military heart and undamaging tomilitary prestige, inasmuch that no one believed in its sincerityor duration.

Under those historical circumstances, so favourable to theproper appreciation of military leisure, Lieut. D’Hubert, onefine afternoon, made his way along a quiet street of a cheerfulsuburb towards Lieut. Feraud’s quarters, which were in aprivate house with a garden at the back, belonging to an old maidenlady.

His knock at the door was answered instantly by a young maid inAlsatian costume. Her fresh complexion and her long eyelashes,lowered demurely at the sight of the tall officer, caused Lieut.D’Hubert, who was accessible to esthetic impressions, torelax the cold, severe gravity of his face. At the same time heobserved that the girl had over her arm a pair of hussar’sbreeches, blue with a red stripe.

“Lieut. Feraud in?” he inquired, benevolently.

“Oh, no, sir! He went out at six this morning.”

The prettymaid tried to close the door. Lieut. D’Hubert,opposing this move with gentle firmness, stepped into theante-room, jingling his spurs.

“Come, my dear! You don’t mean to say he has notbeen home since six o’clock this morning?”

Saying these words, Lieut. D’Hubert opened withoutceremony the door of a room so comfortably and neatly ordered thatonly from internal evidence in the shape of boots, uniforms, andmilitary accoutrements did he acquire the conviction that it wasLieut. Feraud’s room. And he saw also that Lieut. Feraud wasnot at home. The truthful maid had followed him, and raised hercandid eyes to his face.

“H’m!” said Lieut. D’Hubert, greatlydisappointed, for he had already visited all the haunts where alieutenant of hussars could be found of afine afternoon. “Sohe’s out? And do you happen to know, my dear, why he went outat six this morning?”

“No,” she answered, readily. “He came homelate last night, and snored. I heard him when I got up at five.Then he dressed himself in his oldest uniform and went out.Service, I suppose.”

“Service? Not a bit of it!” cried Lieut.D’Hubert. “Learn, my angel, that he went out thus earlyto fight a duel with a civilian.”

She heard this news without a quiver of her dark eyelashes. Itwas very obvious that theactions of Lieut. Feraud were generallyabove criticism. She only looked up for a moment in mute surprise,and Lieut. D’Hubert concluded from this absence of emotionthat she must have seen Lieut. Feraud since the morning. He lookedaround the room.

“Come!” he insisted, with confidential familiarity.“He’s perhaps somewhere in the house now?”

She shook her head.

“So much the worse for him!” continued Lieut.D’Hubert, in a tone of anxious conviction. “But he hasbeen home this morning.”

This time the prettymaid nodded slightly.

“He has!” cried Lieut. D’Hubert. “Andwent out again? What for? Couldn’t he keep quietly indoors!What a lunatic! My dear girl—”

Lieut. D’Hubert’s natural kindness of dispositionand strong sense of comradeship helped his powers of observation.He changed his tone to a most insinuating softness, and, gazing atthe hussar’s breeches hanging over the arm of the girl, heappealed to the interest she took in Lieut. Feraud’s comfortand happiness. He was pressing and persuasive. He used his eyes,which were kind and fine, with excellent effect. His anxiety to gethold at once of Lieut. Feraud, for Lieut. Feraud’s own good,seemed so genuine that at last it overcame the girl’sunwillingness to speak. Unluckily she had not much to tell. Lieut.Feraud had returned home shortly before ten, had walked straightinto his room, and had thrown himself on his bed to resume hisslumbers. She had heard him snore rather louder than before farinto the afternoon. Then he got up, put on his best uniform, andwent out. That was all she knew.

She raised her eyes, and Lieut. D’Hubert stared into themincredulously.

“It’s incredible. Gone parading the town in his bestuniform! My dear child, don’t you know he ran that civilianthrough this morning? Clean through, as you spit a hare.”

The pretty maid heard the gruesome intelligence without anysigns of distress. But she pressed her lips togetherthoughtfully.

“He isn’t parading the town,” she remarked ina low tone. “Far from it.”

“The civilian’s family is makingan awful row,”continued Lieut. D’Hubert, pursuing his train of thought.“And the general is very angry. It’s one of the bestfamilies in the town. Feraud ought to have kept close atleast—”

“What will the general do to him?” inquired thegirl, anxiously.

“He won’t have his head cut off, to be sure,”grumbled Lieut. D’Hubert. “His conduct is positivelyindecent. He’s making no end of trouble for himself by thissort of bravado.”

“But he isn’t parading the town,” the maidinsisted in a shy murmur.

“Why, yes! Now I think of it, I haven’t seen himanywhere about. What on earth has he done with himself?”

“He’s gone to pay a call,” suggested the maid,after a moment of silence.

Lieut. D’Hubert started.

“A call! Do you mean a call on a lady? The cheek of theman!And how do you know this, my dear?”

Without concealing her woman’s scorn for the denseness ofthe masculine mind, the pretty maid reminded him that Lieut. Feraudhad arrayed himself in his best uniform before going out. He hadalso put on his newest dolman, she added, in a tone as if thisconversation were getting on her nerves, and turned awaybrusquely.

Lieut. D’Hubert, without questioning the accuracy of thededuction, did not see that it advanced him much on his officialquest. For his quest after Lieut. Feraud had an official character.He did not know any of the women this fellow, who had run a manthrough in the morning, was likely to visit in the afternoon. Thetwo young men knew each other but slightly. He bit his glovedfinger in perplexity.

“Call!” he exclaimed. “Call on thedevil!”

The girl, with her back to him, and folding the hussars breecheson a chair, protested with a vexed little laugh:

“Oh, dear, no! On Madame de Lionne.”

Lieut. D’Hubert whistled softly. Madame de Lionne was thewife of ahigh official who had a well-known salon and somepretensions to sensibility and elegance. The husband was acivilian, and old; but the society of the salon was young andmilitary. Lieut. D’Hubert had whistled, not because the ideaof pursuing Lieut. Feraud into that very salon was disagreeable tohim, but because, having arrived in Strasbourg only lately, he hadnot had the time as yet to get an introduction to Madame de Lionne.And what was that swashbuckler Feraud doing there, he wondered. Hedid not seem the sort of man who—

“Are you certain of what you say?” asked Lieut.D’Hubert.

The girl was perfectly certain. Without turning round to look athim, she explained that the coachman of their next door neighboursknew the maitre-d’hotel of Madame deLionne. In this way shehad her information. And she was perfectly certain. In giving thisassurance she sighed. Lieut. Feraud called there nearly everyafternoon, she added.

“Ah, bah!” exclaimed D’Hubert, ironically. Hisopinion of Madame de Lionne went down several degrees. Lieut.Feraud did not seem to him specially worthy of attention on thepart of a woman with a reputation for sensibility and elegance. Butthere was no saying. Atbottom they were all alike—verypractical rather than idealistic. Lieut.D’Hubert, however,did not allow his mind to dwell on these considerations.

“By thunder!” he reflected aloud. “The generalgoes there sometimes. If he happens to find the fellow making eyesat the lady there will be the devil to pay! Our general is notavery accommodating person, I can tell you.”

“Go quickly, then! Don’t stand here now I’vetold you where he is!” cried the girl, colouring to theeyes.

“Thanks, my dear! I don’t know what I would havedone without you.”

After manifesting his gratitude in anaggressive way, which atfirst was repulsed violently, and then submitted to with a suddenand still more repellent indifference, Lieut. D’Hubert tookhis departure.

He clanked and jingled along the streets with a martial swagger.To run a comrade to earth in a drawing-room where he was not knowndid not trouble him in the least. A uniform is a passport. Hisposition as officier d’ordonnance of the general added to hisassurance. Moreover, now that he knew where to find Lieut. Feraud,he had no option. Itwas a service matter.

Madame de Lionne’s house had an excellent appearance. Aman in livery, opening the door of a large drawing-room with awaxed floor, shouted his name and stood aside to let him pass. Itwas a reception day. The ladies wore big hats surcharged with aprofusion of feathers; their bodies sheathed in clinging whitegowns, from the armpits to the tips of the low satin shoes, lookedsylph-like and cool in a great display of bare necks and arms. Themen who talked with them, on the contrary, were arrayed heavily inmulti-coloured garments with collars up to their ears and thicksashes round their waists. Lieut. D’Hubert made his unabashedway across the room and, bowing low before a sylph-like formreclining on a couch, offered his apologies for this intrusion,which nothing could excuse but the extreme urgency of the serviceorder he had to communicate to his comrade Feraud. He proposed tohimself to return presently in a more regular manner and begforgiveness for interrupting the interestingconversation . . .

A bare arm was extended towards him with gracious nonchalanceeven before he had finished speaking. He pressed the handrespectfully to his lips, and made the mental remark that it wasbony. Madame de Lionne was a blonde, with too fine askin and a longface.

“C’est ca!” she said, with an ethereal smile,disclosing a set of large teeth. “Come this evening to pleadfor your forgiveness.”

“I will not fail, madame.”

Meantime, Lieut. Feraud, splendid in his new dolman and theextremely polished boots of his calling, sat on a chair within afoot of the couch, one hand resting on his thigh, the othertwirling his moustache to a point. At a significant glance fromD’Hubert he rose without alacrity, and followed him into therecess of a window.

“What is it you want with me?” he asked, withastonishing indifference. Lieut. D’Hubert could not imaginethat in the innocence of his heart and simplicity of his conscienceLieut. Feraud took a view of his duel in which neither remorse noryet a rational apprehension ofconsequences had any place. Though hehad no clear recollection how the quarrel had originated (it wasbegun in an establishment where beer and wine are drunk late atnight), he had not the slightest doubt of being himself theoutraged party.He had had two experienced friends for his seconds.Everything had been done according to the rules governing that sortof adventures. And a duel is obviously fought for the purpose ofsomeone being at least hurt, if not killed outright. The civiliangothurt. That also was in order. Lieut. Feraud was perfectlytranquil; but Lieut. D’Hubert took it for affectation, andspoke with a certain vivacity.

“I am directed by the general to give you the order to goat once to your quarters, and remain there under closearrest.”

It was now the turn of Lieut. Feraud to be astonished.“What the devil are you telling me there?” he murmured,faintly, and fell into such profound wonder that he could onlyfollow mechanically the motions of Lieut. D’Hubert. The twoofficers, one tall, with an interesting face and a moustache thecolour of ripe corn, the other, short and sturdy, with a hookednose and a thick crop of black curly hair, approached the mistressof the house to take their leave. Madame de Lionne, a woman ofeclectic taste, smiled upon these armed young men with impartialsensibility and an equal share of interest. Madame de Lionne tookher delight in the infinite variety of the human species. All theother eyes in the drawing-room followed the departing officers;andwhen they had gone out one or two men, who had already heard of theduel, imparted the information to the sylph-like ladies, whoreceived it with faint shrieks of humane concern.

Meantime, the two hussars walked side by side, Lieut. Feraudtrying to master the hidden reason of things which in this instanceeluded the grasp of his intellect, Lieut. D’Hubert feelingannoyed at the part he had to play, because the general’sinstructions were that he should see personally that Lieut. Feraudcarried out hisorders to the letter, and at once.

“The chief seems to know this animal,” he thought,eyeing his companion, whose round face, the round eyes, and eventhe twisted-up jet black little moustache seemed animated by amental exasperation against the incomprehensible. And aloud heobserved rather reproachfully, “The general is in a devilishfury with you!”

Lieut. Feraud stopped short on the edge of the pavement, andcried in accents of unmistakable sincerity, “What on earthfor?” The innocence of the fiery Gascon soul was depicted inthe manner in which he seized his head in both hands as if toprevent it bursting with perplexity.

“For the duel,” said Lieut. D’Hubert, curtly.He was annoyed greatly by this sort of perverse fooling.

“The duel! The . . .”

Lieut. Feraud passed from one paroxysm of astonishment intoanother. He dropped his hands and walked on slowly, trying toreconcile this information with the state of his own feelings. Itwas impossible. He burst out indignantly, “Was I to let thatsauerkraut-eating civilian wipe his boots on the uniform of the 7thHussars?”

Lieut. D’Hubert could not remain altogether unmoved bythat simple sentiment. This little fellow was a lunatic, he thoughtto himself, but there was something in what he said.

“Of course, I don’t know how far you werejustified,” he began, soothingly. “And the generalhimself may not be exactly informed. Those people have beendeafening him with their lamentations.”

“Ah! the general is not exactly informed,” mumbledLieut. Feraud, walking fasterand faster as his choler at theinjustice of his fate began to rise. “He is not exactly . . .And he orders me under close arrest, with God knows whatafterwards!”

“Don’t excite yourself like this,”remonstrated the other. “Your adversary’s people areveryinfluential, you know, and it looks bad enough on the face ofit. The general had to take notice of their complaint at once. Idon’t think he means to be over-severe with you. It’sthe best thing for you to be kept out of sight for awhile.”

“I am verymuch obliged to the general,” mutteredLieut. Feraud through his teeth. “And perhaps you would say Iought to be grateful to you, too, for the trouble you have taken tohunt me up in the drawing-room of a lady who—”

“Frankly,” interrupted Lieut. D’Hubert,with aninnocent laugh, “I think you ought to be. I had no end oftrouble to find out where you were. It wasn’t exactly theplace for you to disport yourself in under the circumstances. Ifthe general had caught you there making eyes at the goddess ofthetemple . . . oh, my word! . . . He hates to be bothered withcomplaints against his officers, you know. And it looked uncommonlylike sheer bravado.”

The two officers had arrived now at the street door of Lieut.Feraud’s lodgings. The latter turned towardshis companion.“Lieut. D’Hubert,” he said, “I havesomething to say to you, which can’t be said very well in thestreet. You can’t refuse to come up.”

The pretty maid had opened the door. Lieut. Feraud brushed pasther brusquely, and she raised her scaredand questioning eyes toLieut. D’Hubert, who could do nothing but shrug his shouldersslightly as he followed with marked reluctance.

In his room Lieut. Feraud unhooked the clasp, flung his newdolman on the bed, and, folding his arms across his chest, turnedto the other hussar.

“Do you imagine I am a man to submit tamely toinjustice?” he inquired, in a boisterous voice.

“Oh, do be reasonable!” remonstrated Lieut.D’Hubert.

“I am reasonable! I am perfectly reasonable!”retorted the other with ominous restraint. “I can’tcall the general to account for his behaviour, but you are going toanswer me for yours.”

“I can’t listen to this nonsense,” murmuredLieut. D’Hubert, making a slightly contemptuous grimace.

“You call this nonsense? It seems to me a perfectly plainstatement. Unless you don’t understand French.”

“What on earth do you mean?”

“I mean,” screamed suddenly Lieut. Feraud, “tocut off your ears to teach you to disturb me with thegeneral’s orders when I am talking to a lady!”

A profound silence followed this mad declaration; and throughthe open window Lieut. D’Hubert heard the little birdssinging sanely in the garden. He said, preserving hiscalm,“Why! If you take that tone, of course I shall holdmyself at your disposition whenever you are at liberty to attend tothis affair; but I don’t think you will cut my earsoff.”

“I am going to attend to it at once,” declaredLieut. Feraud, with extreme truculence. “If you are thinkingof displaying your airs and graces to-night in Madame deLionne’s salon you are very much mistaken.”

“Really!” said Lieut. D’Hubert, who wasbeginning to feel irritated, “you are an impracticable sortof fellow. The general’s orders to me were to put you underarrest, not to carve you into small pieces. Good-morning!”And turning his back on the little Gascon, who, always sober in hispotations, was as though born intoxicated with the sunshine of hisvine-ripening country, the Northman, who could drink hard onoccasion, but was born sober under the watery skies of Picardy,made for the door. Hearing, however, the unmistakable sound behindhis back of a sword drawn from the scabbard, he had no option butto stop.

“Devil take this mad Southerner!” he thought,spinning round and surveying with composure the warlike ...