I began to seek a quarrel with him; to my epigrams he replied
with epigrams which always seemed to me more spontaneous and more
cutting than mine, and which were decidedly more amusing, for he joked
while I fumed. At last, at a ball given by a Polish landed proprietor,
seeing him the object of the attention of all the ladies, and especially
of the mistress of the house, with whom I was upon very good terms, I
whispered some grossly insulting remark in his ear. He flamed up and
gave me a slap in the face. We grasped our swords; the ladies fainted;
we were separated; and that same night we set out to fight.
"The dawn was just breaking. I was standing at the appointed place with
my three seconds. With inexplicable impatience I awaited my opponent.
The spring sun rose, and it was already growing hot. I saw him coming in
the distance. He was walking on foot, accompanied by one second. We
advanced to meet him. He approached, holding his cap filled with black
cherries. The seconds measured twelve paces for us. I had to fire first,
but my agitation was so great, that I could not depend upon the
steadiness of my hand; and in order to give myself time to become calm,
I ceded to him the first shot.
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