He then sat down to think. First thing tomorrow morning he would have to find seconds. Who should he ask? In his mind he went through the most respectable and most responsible of his friends. Finally he chose the Marquis de La Tour-Noire and Colonel Boudin. That was good: one from the aristocracy and one from the military. Their names would look good in the papers. He realized that he was thirsty and drank three glasses of water one after the other before beginning to pace the floor again. He felt full of energy. If he showed himself hard and determined to see the thing through right to the end, if he demanded the most dangerous and rigorous conditions, then more than likely his opponent would back down.

He looked again at the piece of card he had taken out of his pocket and tossed on to his table. As his glance had revealed in the café, and as every gaslight passed in the cab on the way home had confirmed, the name he read was Georges Lamil, 51, rue Moncey. He looked at this collection of letters which appeared to contain some hidden mystery: Georges Lamil? Who was this man? What did he do? Why had he stared at that woman like that? Wasn’t it appalling to think some complete stranger could suddenly come storming into your life just because he had the nerve to stare at a woman? The Vicomte said aloud again, ‘What a brute!’

He stopped and eyed the card once more, speculating. He was suddenly angry with the scrap of paper, and, mingled with his anger and loathing, was a strange feeling of unease. So stupid, the whole thing! He took up his open penknife and, as if he were stabbing the man, stuck it in the middle of the printed name.

So! It had come to a duel, had it? As the injured party, should he choose swords or pistols? There was less danger with swords but on the other hand the threat of pistols might make his opponent retract. Very rarely is a swordfight fatal since the two duellists make sure they never fence close enough to each other for the swordpoint to go in very deep. With pistols he would be taking a very serious risk with his life but he might also get out of the affair with his honour intact and possibly without even having to meet the man.

‘Must be firm. Frighten him off,’ he said.

The sound of his own voice gave him such a shock that he looked round to see who was there. He felt extremely nervous, drank another glass of water then got undressed ready for bed.

As soon as he was in bed he blew out the candle and closed his eyes. He was thinking, ‘I’ve got all day tomorrow to arrange things. Sleep’s the best thing now. Got to keep up my strength.’