"Before beginning a disgusting scene, unworthy of two gentlemen, such as
we are...."
"Of a gentleman like this! you are no gentleman," exclaimed Julia,
giving him a furious look and clinging to her brother.
"Before beginning a scene like this," the Andalusian went on to say,
making a contemptuous gesture at the interruption, "listen to one word,
Miguel. I have said that I am resolved not to fight, because _I do not
wish_ to run the risk of killing you, nor of dying. From here I am
going directly to Paris, and probably you will never see me again in
this world. If you insist on detaining me, I will meet force with force;
if you insult me, as I am in a strange country where no one knows me, it
will be of no great consequence to me. And if you should happen to tell
the story in Madrid, besides publishing your own dishonor, no one will
believe you; because it is not credible that a man who has fought
fourteen duels, five of them to the death, would through fear avoid a
challenge from a man who scarcely knows how to hold a weapon. So then
understand that my resolution is irrevocable."
"Well, then, I will kill you like a dog," said Miguel, whipping out a
revolver from his pocket.
"If you kill me (which I shall take good care that you do not do),"
retorted Saavedra, drawing another revolver, "you would go from here
straight to jail, and your sister would remain forsaken."
Miguel stood for a moment in doubt; then he shrugged his shoulders with
a gesture of sovereign contempt, and said, as he put back the pistol:--
"You are right. The truth is, that as a knave you are quite up to the
standard! Come on, Julia, come! I am ashamed to spend any more time
wasting words with this _vile wretch_."
And taking his sister around the waist, he drew her from the room.
Don Alfonso watched them as they disappeared: he listened until the
sound of their steps was lost; he also shrugged his shoulders, put back
his revolver, and, while he arranged his necktie before the glass,
previous to going out, he muttered with a diabolical smile:--
"I did not come out of it quite as well as I expected, ... but after
all, this adventure has not been so bad!"