On arriving at Dardouillet's little house at the other end of the
village, Denoisel rang the bell. An old woman opened the door.
"Has M. Dardouillet gone to bed?"
"Gone to bed? No, indeed! A nice life he leads!" answered the old
servant; "he's pottering about in the garden; you'll find him there,"
and she opened the long window of the dining-room.
The bright moonlight fell on a garden absolutely bare, as square as a
handkerchief, and with the soil all turned over like a field. In one
corner, standing motionless and with folded arms, on a hillock, was a
black figure which looked like a spectre in one of Biard's pictures. It
was M. Dardouillet, and he was so deeply absorbed that he did not see
his visitor until Denoisel was quite close to him.
"Ah, it's you, M. Denoisel? I'm delighted to see you. Just look now,"
and he pointed to the loose soil all round. "What do you think of that?
Plenty of lines there, I hope; and it's all quite soft and loose, you
know," and he put his hand out over the plan of his rising ground as
though he were stroking the brow of his ideal hill.
"Excuse me, M. Dardouillet," said Denoisel. "I've come about an affair
that----"
"Moonlight--remember that--if ever you have a garden--there's nothing
like moonlight for seeing what you have done--exactly as it is. By
daylight you can't see the embankments----"
"M. Dardouillet, I want to appeal to a man who has worn a soldier's
uniform. You are a friend of the Mauperins. I have come to ask you if
you will act for Henri as----"
"A duel?" And Dardouillet fastened up the black coat he wore, winter and
summer alike, with all that was left of the button. "Good heavens! Yes,
a service of that kind is a duty."
"I shall take you back with me, then," said Denoisel, putting his arm
through Dardouillet's. "You can sleep at my place. It must be settled
quickly. It will be all over to-morrow, or the day after at the latest."
"Good!" said Dardouillet, looking regretfully at a line of stakes that
had been commenced, the shadows of which the moon threw on the ground.