The Point Of Honor: A Military Tale

fort of our life. In this matter vanity is what leads us astray. It is our vanity which hurries us into situations from which we must come out d

body his heart at forty remained unscratched. Entering with reserve into his sister's matrimonial plans, he felt himself falling irr

usness of that young girl appeared exceptional and fascinating. But there was nothing mysterious about the arrangements of the match which Madame Léonie had arranged. There was nothing peculiar, either. It was a very appropriate match, commending itself extremely to the young lady'

d incidentally learned by experience the meaning of the word funk. As far as he could make it out she seemed to imply that with a perfect confidence in her mother's affection and sagacity she had no pronounced antipathy for the person of General D'Hubert; and that this was quite sufficient for a well-brought-up dutiful young lady to begin married life upon. This view hurt and tormented the pride of General D'Hubert. And yet, he asked himself with a sort of sweet despair, What more could he expect? She had a quiet and luminous forehead; her violet eyes laughed while the lines of her lips and chin remained composed in an admirable gravity. All this was set off by such a glorious mass of fair hair, by a complexion so marv

ng himself to have lunch with his intended, her mother, and her émigré uncle. The middle of the day was spent in strolling or sitting in the shade. A watchful deferential gallantry trembling on the verge of tenderness, was the note of their intercourse on his side-with a playful turn of the phrase concealing the profound trouble of his whole being caused by her inacces

tances harmonised in luminous accord, exhaled already the scents of the evening. The two figures down the road presented themselves like two rigid and wooden silhouettes all black on the ribbon of white dust. General D'Hubert made out the long, straight-cut military capotes, buttoned closely right up to the black stocks, the cocked hats, the lean carven brown countenances-old soldiers-vieilles moustaches! The taller of

st of gray and drab walls of a village clustering around the top of a steep, conical hill, so that the blunt church tower seemed but the shape of

at the matter was confidential enough and to be arranged discreetly. Their general quarters were in that village over there where the infernal clodhoppers-damn thei

D'Hubert, completely off the track. "I am

or one," suggested

who had never loved the emperor. That was something to look at. For even the gold-laced Judases who had sold him to the English, the mar

s if the spinning of the earth had become perceptible with an awful, slight rustle in the eternal stillness

d forgotten h

your parts an hour ago on post horses. He's awaiting our return with impatience. There is hurry, you know. The general has broken the ministerial order of sojourn

dated the idea

roken out, too. Your friend the king would be glad to cut off our scurvy

had recovered his

me to a throat-cutting match with that-that...

ha! h

ters of Europe, they had already the air of antique ghosts, they seemed less substantial in their faded coats than their own narrow shadows falling so black across the white road-the military and grotesque shadows of twenty years

he laughing general wi

compani

n't smiled from the day the Oth

hing suddenly. His urgent desire now was to get rid of them, to get them away from his sight quickly before he lost control

eremonies. Do you see that wood there at the foot of that slope? Yes, the wood of pines. Let us m

neral Feraud look

eral," said t

to keep close if you don't want the gendarmerie making inquiries abo

en he began to walk straight before him, thus retracing his steps till he found himself before the park gate of his intended's home. Motionless he stared through the bars at the front of the hou

tation for elegance in the fit of ladies' shoes) in another small German town, wore silk stockings on his lean shanks, low shoes with silver buckles, a brocaded

lier," called Gene

e, mon ami? Have you

am come to tell you of it. No-outside. Behind this wall. It

d heard his enigmatical words very well, but attached no undue importance to what a mere man of forty so hard hit was likely to do or say. The turn of mind of the generation of Frenchmen grown up during the years of his exile was almost unintelligible to him. Their

forgot till half an hour ago that I had an urgent affa

vening silence of the countryside the thin, aged v

That's an

s poor brother, murdered by a band of Jacobins, had grown since his return very dear to

for ten days longer you would have been married before your memory returned to you. In my time men did not forget such things-nor yet what's d

relieved himself

n prevent you. You run no ri

n to this lover's nonsense. It's

asked. "What's

sieur le Chevalier. An inconce

l only think I am taking him for a fool and get offended." General D'Hub

rupted. "Well then

ran

d you were engaged. You forgot that, too, I suppose. And then you go and forg

have been picking up that quarrel last time I

nsane conduct!" exclaimed the Chevalier test

and trying to place a word, the old émig

btful step to the man whose name my niece is to bear. I tell y

er, it's fifteen or sixteen years ago

unded by the vehemently despai

ussars sixteen years ago?"

se I was made a general in m

acked by a low band of sombre crimson in the west, the voice of the old ex

mean me to understand that you have been ha

meaning. The quarrel itself is not to be explained easily. We ha

nity but the sanguinary madness of the Revolution which has tainted a whole generation,"

ricorne and old-fashioned clothes like a bowed thin ghost

Anjorrant. Not the pockmarked one. The other. The Beau d'Anjorrant as they called him. They met three times in ei

ittle sardonically. "Not at all so simple," he added. "Nor yet half so reas

he silence for a long time till the

he-this

ean he's a general. A Gascon. S

ion for the canaille. I don't mean this for you, D'Hubert. Y

t of this," broke i

shrugged his p

and some village troll.... See what comes of

shoes yoursel

s got hold of a hopeful argument. "Those people don't exist-all these Ferauds. Feraud! What is Feraud? A va-nu-pieds disguised into a general by a Corsican adventurer masquerading as an emperor. There is no earthly reason for a D'Hubert to s'encanailler by a duel with a person of that sort

ed sharply his bowed head, glimmering silvery white under the

forged stone all black against the darkening red band in the sky. "God knows! If it were not for this emblem, which I remember seeing in this spot

rigadier of the gendarmerie in Senlac. These fellows are liable to arrest on my simple order. It would make some talk in the army, both the organised and the disbanded. Especially the disbanded. All canaille. All my comrades once-the companions in arms of Armand D'Hubert. But what need a D'Hubert care what people who don't exist may think? Or better still, I might get my brother-in-law to send for the mayor

ity, clear as crystal, of the sky. The dry,

u telling m

withered, frail old h

trust my brother-in-law nor yet my own sister. Chevalier! I have been so near doing these things tha

," dropped the Chevalier's passive hand, an

lot to remain on the ground, you at least will

régime seemed to have become mor

ning before those two women?" he groaned. "Gen

Hubert mad

ause good

inno

ier's ghostly arm above the el

sed, and opening his hand

t he opened the private door, and while ascending the twenty-eight steps of winding staircase, giving access to the corridor on which his room opened, he went through a horrible and humiliating scene in which an infuriated madman, with bloodshot eyes and a foaming mouth, played inconceivable havoc with everything inanimate that may be found in a well-appointed dining room. When he opened the door of his apartment the fit was over, and his bodily fatigue was so great that he had to catch at the backs of the chairs as he crossed

e fate that could play such a vile trick on a man, awe at the remote consequences of an apparently insignificant and ridiculous event in his past, doubt of his own fitness to conduct his existence and mistrust of his best sentiments-for what the devil

. The tenacity of that Feraud, the awful persistence of that imbecile brute came to him with the tremendous force of a relentless fatality. General D'Hubert trembled as he put down the empty water ewer. "He will have me," he thought. General D'Hu

ries and infantry squares and ridden with messages through a hail of bullets without thinking anything about it. His business now was to sneak out unheard, at break of day, to an obscure and revolting death. General D'Hubert never hesita

He kept his eyes fixed on it steadily. That temperamental, good-humoured coolness in the face of danger, which made him an officer liked by his men and appreciated by his superiors, was gradually asserting itself. It was like going into battle. Arriving at the edge of the wood he sat down on a boulder, ho

And becoming aware of the orange in his hand he thought further, "These are very good or

bert engaged in peeling the orange. They stood still waiting till he looked up. Then the seconds r

u, messieurs, to act for me. I h

cuirassier sa

nnot be

veteran

ward all

as no one I could trust with the object of your presence here," explained Gen

r gr

s un

tter still, let us take a mixed pair. One of each pair. Then we will go into the wood while you remain outside. We did not come here for ceremonies, but for war. War to the

were loading the pistols he could be heard whistling, and was seen to rub his hands with an air of perfect cont

in ten minutes from now," suggested General D'Hubert calmly, but feeling as if he were

s compare wa

ed nose went over to borrow the watch of General

inutes to five by you

xed immovably on the white face of the watch he held in the palm of his hand. He opened hi

anc

It was like going into battle. The commanding quality of confidence in himself woke up in his breast. He was all to his affair. The problem was how to kill his adversary. Nothing short of that would free him from this imbecile nightmare. "It's no use wounding th

greatest possible range," sai

ween the trunks exposing himself freely, then quick as lightning leaped back. It had been a risky move, but it succeeded in it

D'Hubert felt himself exposed on his flanks and rear. Again something white fluttered in his sight. Ha! The enemy was still on his front then. He had feared a turning movement. But, apparently, General Feraud was not thinking of it. General

General D'Hubert's soul. But to keep his chin raised off the ground was irksome, and not much use either. He peeped round, exposing a fraction of his head, with dread but really with little risk. His enemy, as a matter of fact, did not expect to see anything of him so low down as that. General D'Hubert caught a fleeting view of Gener

self-respect may run to such little weaknesses as, for instance, being provided with an elegant leather folding case containing a small ivory comb and fitted with a piece of looking-glass on the outside. General D'Hubert, his hands being free, felt in his breeches pockets for that implement of innocent vanity, excusable in the possessor of long silky moustaches. He drew it out, and then, with the utmost coolness and

exultingly, "I am bound to see his legs. An

the little mirror. He shifted its position accordingly. But having to form his judgment of the change from that indirect

right tree with bloodthirsty precision. He was absolutely certain of it. And yet he had not been able to sight as much as the tip of an ear.

her was lying on the ground-on the ground! Perfectly still, too! Exposed! What did it mean?... The notion that he had knocked his adversary over at the first shot th

d him!" he said to himself. "He was exposed en

mbs, the last vestiges of surprise fading

ntinued mentally. "Got it through the head just where I aimed,

st sorry. But for nothing in the world would he have had it und

a living man. It was inconceivable. It was beyond the range of sane supposition. There was no possibility to guess the reason for it. And it must be said that General D'Hubert's turned

the field of the mirror, he became uneasy. General Feraud had only stepped a little out of the line, but his adversary could not possibly have supposed him walking up with perfect unconcern. General D'Hubert, beginning to wonder where the other had

Armand D'Hubert, the reflective promising officer, had emitted the opinion that in warfare one should "never cast back on the lines of a mistake." This idea afterward restated, defended, developed in many discussions, had settled into one of the stock notions of his brain, became a part of his mental individuality. And whether it had gone so inconceivably deep as to affect the dictates of his instinct, or simply because, as he himself declared, he was "too scared to remember the confounded pistols," the fact is that General D'H

ed hoarsely from the d

the spell which had fallen

cidal fury resuming in its violence the accumulated resentment of a lifetime. For years General D'Hubert had been exasperated and humiliated by an atrocious absurdity imposed upon him by t

shots to fire yet,"

eeth, and his face assumed a

," he

he foot of a tall pine. General D'Hubert had the second's leisure necessary to remember that he had dreaded death not as a man but as a lover, not as a d

d of firing them into General Feraud's breast, ga

ight no mor

ble satisfaction was too much

staff-coxcomb!" he roared out suddenly out of

lly. This proceeding was observed with a sor

nd. "The last time within a foot or so. By every rule of single combat

forbearance," muttered

anger, he could have killed that man, but in cold blood, he recoiled from humiliating this unreasonable being-a fellow soldier of the Grand Armée, h

ked startled. And

ell. Now that the matter is decided to my advantage, I am going to do what I like with your life on the same p

, in the accents of profound and dismayed conviction. "It means for me to be sitting all the rest of my life with a

ver, I am not likely to talk at large of this adventure. Nobody need ever know anything about it. Just as no one to this day, I believe, knows the origi

with the air of walking in a trance, the two seconds hurried towards them each from his sta

the presence of General Feraud that our difference is at las

after all!" they e

ly. It is something much more b

looked at each other. Later in the day when they found themselves alone

as far or even a little farther than most peo

that no one in the army could quite make out," declared the chasseur with the imperfect no

oments when by a marvellous illusion this love seemed to him already his and his threatened life a still more magnificent opportunity of devotion. Now that his life was safe it had suddenly lost it special magnificence. It wore instead a specially alarming aspect as a snare for the exposure of unworthiness. As to the marvellous illusion of conquer

yet. He had hoped that his early excursion would have passed unperceived. He expected to find some servant just gone in; but the sunshine filtering through the usual cracks enabled him to see lying on the low divan something bulky which had the appearance of two women clasped in each other's arms. Tearful and consolatory murmurs issued mysteriously from that appearance. General D'Hubert pulled open the nearest pair of shutters violently. One of the women then jumped up. It was his sister. She

definitely. Madame Léonie then extended her shapely bare a

rushed here two miles from ho

eral D'Hubert in a low, agitated voice.

e household-we were all asleep yet. You may imagine wh

tive mother-in-law had died suddenly, but only to dismiss it at once. He could not conceive the nature of the event, of the catastrophe which

this room?" he whi

the great alley. At that hour-you may imagine! And the evening before he had declared himself indisposed. She just hurried on some clothes and flew down to him. One would be anxious for less. He loves her, but not very intelligently. He had been up all night, fully dressed, the poor old man, perfectly exhausted! He wasn't in a state to invent a plausible story.... What a confidant you chose there!... My husband was furious! He said: 'We can't interfere now.' So we sat down to wait. It wa

was as though he had heard nothi

my cloak... Adèle..." she began, but did not say "sit up." She w

, "I haven't washed this morning. I must look like an old tramp. There's earth on the back of my coat, and pine

en he spun round and noticed that she had followed him with her eyes. They were not cast down on meeting his glance. And the expression of her face was novel to him also. It was, one might have said, reversed. Her eyes looked at him with grave thoughtfulness, while the exquisite lines of her mouth seemed to suggest a restrained smile. This change made her transcendental beauty much less mysterious, much more acc

nce. "If I could be certain that you did not come here

inwardly elated. It came in a demure murmur

be méchant as

s not exactly in the line of the open door. But Madame Léonie, coming back wrapped up in a light cloak and carrying a lace sh

ar child," she cri

se, showed the readiness of a resourceful cavalry

e carriage," he protested. "She isn

over to the other house. Had it not been for that, General D'Hubert felt capable of mounting a horse and pursuing his late adversary in order simply to embrace him from excess of happiness. "I owe this piece of luck to that stupid brute,"

nd being curious by nature, took his niece aside for a quiet talk. He advised her to find out from her husband the true story of the affair of honour, whose claim so imperative and so persis

to her beloved old uncle what she had learned without any difficulty from her husband. The Chevalier listened with profound attention to the

her pretty eyes very wide. "Isn't it funny? C

That Bonaparte's soldiers were savages. As a wife, my dear, it

's the tale the fellow made up for his wife, and during the honeymoon, to

d. "I have never," protested the General Baron D'Hubert, "wished for your death during all the time of our deplorable quarrel. Allow me to give

ation. It was alluding to this last that General Feraud a

and I am confirmed in my conviction that you never loved the emperor. The thought of that sublime hero chained to a rock in the middle of a savage ocean makes life of so little

lifted up her hands in horro

st take care that he never, by any chance, learns where the

Armand," said Madame la

broke bounds to fight his last duel with me. He's crippled with rheumatism. We are bound to take care of him to the end of his days. And, after all, I am indebted to him for the radiant disc

E