Chapter 10
THE DUELSYME sat down at a cafe table with his companions, his blue eyes
sparkling like the bright sea below, and ordered a bottle of Saumur
with a pleased impatience. He was for some reason in a condition of
curious hilarity. His spirits were already unnaturally high; they
rose as the Saumur sank, and in half an hour his talk was a torrent
of nonsense. He professed to be making out a plan of the
conversation which was going to ensue between himself and the
deadly Marquis. He jotted it down wildly with a pencil. It was
arranged like a printed catechism, with questions and answers, and
was delivered with an extraordinary rapidity of utterance.
"I shall approach. Before taking off his hat, I shall take off
my own. I shall say, 'The Marquis de Saint Eustache, I believe.
