"The ropes are new," said he; "you'll hurt yourself."
"You told him that I ran away?" This was too much.
"Yes. Ah, but you will be surprised. The duel will last five minutes.
Herr Lieutenant will thrust; the thrust will be parried. He will
feint; useless. Thrust on thrust; parry on parry. Consternation will
take the place of confidence; he will grow nervous; he will try all his
little tricks and they will fail. Then his eyes will roll and his
breath come in gasps. Suddenly he thinks he sees an opening; he
lunges--ach! the fool; it is all over!" The old man's voice quivered
with excitement. He had passed his time in the barracks and had seen
many a sword skirmish.
"Well, are you going to take off these ropes?"
"No. You would break every bone in my body."
"Damn it, man!" I groaned, in exasperation.
"You will soon be out of breath."
Oh! could I have but loosened those cords!
"Stahlberg, who left the service a year ago, will act in the capacity
of second." Stahlberg was at the head of the vineyard. "I shall watch
the affair from the window here; the scene of action will take place in
the clearing beyond. It will be an affair worth witnessing."
"And where is Gretchen?"
"Where she should be; at the bar, a dutiful bar-maid." Then I heard
nothing but the deep cachinations of the innkeeper. There was
something in the affair which appealed to his humor. I could not see
it. For ten minutes my vocabulary was strictly unprintable.
"Will you kindly tell me what the meaning of all this is?"
"Herr Winthrop, the idyl has come to an end; the epic now begins."