The Duel by Joseph Conrad - Part 3 of 7

At the sight of Lieutenant Hubert, standing before him very bleached and hollow-eyed, the heart of the old warrior felt a pang of genuine compassion. All his affection for the regiment, that body of men which he held in his hand to launch forward and draw back, who ministered to his pride and commanded all his thoughts, seemed centered for a moment on the person of the most promising subaltern. He cleared his throat in a threatening manner and frowned terribly. You must understand, he began, that I don't care a rap for the life of a single man in the regiment. I would send the eight hundred and thirty-three of you men and horses galloping into the pit of perdition, with no more compunction than I would kill a fly. Yes, Colonel, you would be riding at our heads, said Lieutenant Hubert with a smile. The Colonel, who felt the need of being very diplomatic, fairly roared at this. I want you to know, Lieutenant Hubert, that I could stand aside and see you all riding to Hades if need be. I am a man to do even that if the good of the service and my duty to my country required it from me. But that's unthinkable, so don't even hint at such a thing. He glared awfully, but his tone softened. There's some milk yet about that mustache of yours, my boy. You don't know what a man like me is capable of. I would hide behind a haystack if— Don't grin at me, sir. How dare you? If this were not a private conversation, I would— Look here, I am responsible for the proper expenditure of lives under my command for the glory of our country and the honor of the regiment. Do you understand that? Well, then, what the devil do you mean by letting yourself be spitted by that fellow of the Seventh Hussars? It's simply disgraceful. Lieutenant Hubert felt vexed beyond measure. His shoulders moved slightly. He made no other answer. He could not ignore his responsibility. The Colonel veiled his glance and lowered his voice still more. It's deplorable, he murmured. And again he changed his tone. Come, he went on persuasively. But with that note of authority which dwells in the throat of a good leader of men, this affair must be settled. I desire to be told plainly what it is all about. I demand, as your best friend, to know. The compelling power of authority, their persuasive influence of kindness affected powerfully a man just risen from a bed of sickness. Lieutenant Hubert's hand, which grasped the knob of a stick, trembled slightly. But his northern temperament, sentimental yet cautious and clear-sided, too, in its idealistic way, checked his impulse to make a clean breast of the whole deadly absurdity. According to the precept of transcendental wisdom, he turned his tongue seven times in his mouth before he spoke. He made then only a speech of thanks. The Colonel listened, interested at first, then looked mystified. At last he frowned. You hesitate. Haven't I told you that I will condescend to argue with you as a friend? Yes, Colonel, answered Lieutenant Hubert gently. But I am afraid that after you have heard me out as a friend you will take action as my superior officer. The attentive Colonel snapped his jaws. Well, what of that? he said, frankly. Is it so damnably disgraceful? It is not, negative Lieutenant Hubert, in a faint but firm voice. Of course, I shall act for the good of the service. Nothing can prevent me doing that. What do you think I want to be told for? I know it is not from idle curiosity, protested Lieutenant Hubert. I know you will act wisely. But what about the good fame of the regiment? It cannot be affected by any youthful folly of a lieutenant, said the Colonel severely. No, it cannot be. But it can be by evil tongues. It will be said that Lieutenant of the 4th Hussars, afraid of meeting his adversary, is hiding behind his Colonel. And that would be worse than hiding behind a haystack. For the good of the service, I cannot afford to do that, Colonel. Nobody would dare say anything of the kind, began the Colonel very fiercely, but ended the phrase on an uncertain note. The bravery of Lieutenant Hubert was well known. But the Colonel was well aware that the dueling courage, the single combat courage, is rightly or wrongly supposed to be courage of a special sort. And it was eminently necessary that an officer of his regiment should possess every kind of courage, and prove it too. The Colonel stuck out his lower lip, and looked far away with a peculiar glazed stare. This was the expression of his perplexity, an expression practically unknown to his regiment. For perplexity is a sentiment which is incompatible with the rank of Colonel of Cavalry. The Colonel himself was overcome by the unpleasant novelty of the sensation, as he was not accustomed to think except on professional matters, connected with the welfare of men and horses, and the proper use thereof on the field of glory. His intellectual efforts degenerated into mere mental repetitions of profane language. Lieutenant Hubert coughed painfully, and added in a weary voice, There will be plenty of evil tongues to say that I've been cowed, and I am sure you will not expect me to pass that over. I may find myself suddenly with a dozen duels on my hands instead of this one affair. The direct simplicity of this argument came home to the Colonel's understanding. He looked at his subordinate fixedly. Sit down, Lieutenant, he said gruffly. This is the very devil of a sit down. Mon Colonel, Hubert began again, I am not afraid of evil tongues. There is a way of silencing them, but there is my peace of mind, too. I wouldn't be able to shake off the notion that I've ruined a brother officer. Whatever action you take, it is bound to go farther. The inquiry has been dropped. Let it rest now. It would have been absolutely fatal to fraud. Hey, what, did he behave so badly? Yes, it was pretty bad, muttered Lieutenant Hubert. Being still very weak, he felt a disposition to cry. As the other man did not belong to his own regiment, the Colonel had no difficulty in believing this. He began to pace up and down the room. He was a good chief, a man capable of discreet sympathy. But he was human in other ways, too, and this became apparent because he was not capable of artifice. The very devil, Lieutenant, he blurted out in the innocence of his heart, is that I have declared my intention to get to the bottom of this affair, and when a Colonel says something, you see? Lieutenant Hubert broke in earnestly. Let me entreat you, Colonel, to be satisfied with taking my word of honor that I was put into a damnable position where I had no option, I had no choice whatever, consistent with my dignity as a man and an officer. After all, Colonel, this fact is the very bottom of this affair. Here you got it. The rest is mere detail. The Colonel stopped short of the reputation of Lieutenant Hubert for good sense and good-tempered way in the balance. A cool head, a warm heart, open as the day, always correct in his behavior. One had to trust him. The Colonel repressed manfully an immense curiosity. You affirm that as a man and an officer, no option, eh? As an officer, an officer of the Fourth Hussars, too, insisted Lieutenant Hubert. I had not. And that is the bottom of the affair, Colonel. Yes, but still I don't see why, to one's Colonel, a Colonel is a father, Lieutenant Hubert ought not to have been allowed out as yet. As yet, he was becoming aware of his physical insufficiency with humiliation and despair. But the morbid obstinacy of an invalid possessed him, and at the same time he felt with dismay his eyes filling with water. This trouble seemed too big to handle. A tear fell down the thin, pale cheek of Lieutenant Hubert. The Colonel turned his back on him hastily. You could have heard a pin drop. This is some silly woman's story, is it not? Saying these words, the Chief spun round to seize the truth, which is not a beautiful shape living in a well, but a shy bird best caught by a stratagem. This was the last move of the Colonel's diplomacy. He saw the truth shining unmistakably in the gesture of Lieutenant Hubert's raising his weak arms and his eyes to heaven in supreme protest. "'Not a woman affair, eh?' growled the Colonel, staring hard. "'I don't ask you who or where. All I want to know is whether there is a woman in it.' Lieutenant Hubert's arms dropped, and his weak voice was pathetically broken. "'Nothing of the kind, mon Colonel.' "'On your honour,' insisted the old warrior. "'On my honour.'" "'Very well,' said the Colonel thoughtfully, and bit his lip. The arguments of Lieutenant Hubert, helped by his liking for the man, had convinced him. On the other hand, it was highly improper that his intervention, of which he had made no secret, should produce no visible effect. He kept Lieutenant Hubert for a few minutes longer and dismissed him kindly. "'Take a few days more in bed, Lieutenant. "'What the devil does the surgeon mean by reporting you fit for duty?' On coming out of the Colonel's quarters, Lieutenant Hubert said nothing to the friend who was waiting outside to take him home. He said nothing to anybody. Lieutenant Hubert made no confidences. But on the evening of that day, the Colonel, strolling under the elms, growing near his quarters, and the company of his second command, opened his lips. "'I've got to the bottom of this affair,' he remarked. The Lieutenant-Colonel, a dry brown ship of a man with short side-whiskers, pricked up his ears at that without letting a sign of curiosity escape him. "'It's no trifle,' added the Colonel, ocularly. The other waited for a long while before he murmured, "'Indeed, sir.' "'No trifle,' repeated the Colonel, looking straight before him. However, forbidden Hubert either to send or to receive a challenge from Fraud for the next twelve months. He had imagined this prohibition to save the prestige a Colonel should have. The result of it was to give an official seal to the mystery surrounding this deadly quarrel. Lieutenant Hubert, repelled by an impassive silence, all attempts to worm the truth out of him, Lieutenant Fraud, secretly uneasy at first, regained his assurance as time went on. He disguised his ignorance of the meaning of the imposed truce by slight sardonic laughs, as though he were amused by what he intended to keep to himself. "'But what will you do?' his chums used to ask him. He contented himself by replying, "'Que vivra verra,' with a little truculent air. And everybody admired his discretion. Before the end of the truce, Lieutenant Hubert got his troop. The promotion was well earned, but somehow no one seemed to expect the event. When Lieutenant Fraud heard of it at a gathering of officers, he muttered through his teeth, "'Is that so?' At once he unhooked his saber from a peg near the door, buckled it on carefully, and left the company without another word. He walked home with measured steps, struck a light with his flint and steel, and lit his tallow candle. Then, snatching an unlucky glass tumbler off the mantelpiece, he dashed it violently on the floor. Now that Hubert was an officer of superior rank, there could be no question of a duel. Neither of them could send or receive a challenge without rendering himself amenable to a court-martial. It was not to be thought of. Lieutenant Fraud, who for many days now had experienced no real desire to meet Lieutenant Hubert, arms in hand, chafed again at the systematic injustice of fate. Does he think he will escape me in that way, he thought indignantly. He saw in this promotion an intrigue, a conspiracy, a cowardly maneuver. That colonel knew what he was doing. He had hastened to recommend his favorite for a step. It was outrageous that a man should be able to avoid the consequences of his acts in such a dark and torturous manner. Of a happy-go-lucky disposition, of a temperament more pugnacious than military, Lieutenant Fraud had been content to give and receive blows for sheer love of arm-strife, and without much thought of advancement. But now an urgent desire to get on sprang up in his breast. This fighter by vocation resolved in his mind to seize showy occasions and to court the favorable opinions of his chiefs like a mere worldling. He knew he was as brave as anyone and never doubted his personal charm. Nevertheless, neither the bravery nor the charm seemed to work very swiftly. Lieutenant Fraud's engaging, careless truculence underwent a change. He began to make bitter allusions to clever fellows who stick at nothing to get on. The army was full of them, he would say. You had only to look around. But all the time he had in view one person only, his adversary, Hubert. Once he confided to an appreciative friend, You see, I don't know how to fawn on the right sort of people. It isn't in my character. He did not get his step till a week after Austerlitz. The light cavalry of the Grand Army had its hands very full of interesting work for a little while. Directly, the pressure of professional occupation had been eased. Captain Fraud took measures to arrange a meeting without loss of time. I know my bird, he observed grimly. If I don't look sharp, he will take care to get himself promoted over the heads of a dozen better men than me. He's got the knack of that sort of thing. This duel was fought in Cilicia. If not fought to a finish, it was, at any rate, fought to a standstill. The weapon was the cavalry saber, and the skill, the science, the vigor, and the determination displayed by the adversaries compelled the admiration of the beholders. It became the subject of talk on both shorts of the Danube and as far as the garrisons of Garatz and Lebach. They crossed blades seven times. Both had many cuts which bled profusely. Both refused to have the combat stopped, time after time, with what appeared the most deadly animosity. This appearance was caused on the part of Captain Hubert by a rational desire to be done once and for all with this worry, on the part of Captain Fraud by a tremendous exaltation of his pugnacious instincts and the excitement of wounded vanity. At last, disheveled their shirts and rags, covered with gore and hardly able to stand, they were led away forcibly by their marveling and horrified seconds. Later on, besieged by comrades avid of details, these gentlemen declared that they could not have allowed that sort of hacking to go on indefinitely. Asked whether the quarrel was settled this time, they gave it out as their conviction that it was a difference which could only be settled by one of the parties remaining lifeless on the ground. The sensation spread from army corps to army corps and penetrated at last to the smallest attachments of the troops, cantoned between the Rhine and the Seeve. In the cafes in Vienna, it was generally estimated, from details to hand, that the adversaries would be able to meet again in three weeks' time on the outside. Something really transcendent in the way of dueling was expected. These expectations were brought to naught by the necessities of the service which separated the two officers. No official notice had been taken of this quarrel. It was now the property of the army, and not to be meddled with lightly. But the story of the duel, or rather their dueling propensities, must have stood somewhat in the way of their advancement because they were still captains when they came together again during the war with Prussia. Detached, north after Jena, with the army commanded by Marshal Bernadotti, Prince of Ponte Corvo, they entered Lübeck together. It was only after the occupation of that town that Captain Farad found leisure to consider his future conduct in view of the fact that Captain Hubert had been given the position of third aide-de-camp to the Marshal. He considered it a great part of a night, and in the morning summoned two sympathetic friends. I've been thinking it over calmly, he said, gazing at them with bloodshot tired eyes. I see that I must get rid of that intriguing personage. Here he's managed to sneak on to the personal staff of the Marshal. It's a direct provocation to me. I can't tolerate a situation in which I am exposed any day to receive an order through him, and God knows what order, too. That sort of thing has happened once before, and that's once too often. He understands this perfectly, never fear. I can't tell you any more. Now you know what it is you have to do. This encounter took place outside the town of Lübeck, on very open ground, selected with special care and deference to the general sentiment of the Cavalry Division belonging to the Army Corps, that this time the two officers should meet on horseback. After all, this duel was a cavalry affair, and to persist in fighting on foot would look like a slight on one's own arm of the service. The seconds, startled by the unusual nature of this suggestion, hastened to refer to their principles. Captain Farrad jumped at it with alacrity. For some obscure reason, depending, no doubt, on his psychology, he imagined himself invincible on horseback, all alone within the four walls of his room, he rubbed his hands and muttered triumphantly, Aha! My pretty staff-officer, I've got you now! Captain Hubert, on his side, after staring hard for a considerable time at his friends, shrugged his shoulders slightly. This affair had hopelessly and unreasonably complicated his existence for him. One absurdity more or less in the development did not matter. All absurdity was distasteful to him. But, urbane as ever, he produced a faintly ironical smile, and said in his calm voice, It certainly will do away, to some extent, with the monotony of the thing. When left alone, he sat down at a table and took his head into his hands. He had not spared himself of late, and the Marshal had been working all his aide's decamp particularly hard. The last three weeks of campaigning and horrid weather had afflicted his health. When overtired, he suffered from a stitch in his wounded side, and that uncomfortable sensation always depressed him. It's that brute's doing, too, he thought bitterly. The day before, he had received a letter from home announcing that his only sister was going to be married. He reflected that from the time she was nineteen, and he twenty-six, when he went away to garrison life in Strasburg, he had had but two short glimpses of her. They had been great friends and confidants, and now she was going to be given away to a man whom he did not know. A very worthy fellow, no doubt, but not half good enough for her. He would never see his old Leonie again. She had a capable little head and plenty of tact. She would know how to manage the fellow, to be sure. He was easy in his mind about her happiness. But he felt ousted from the first place, and her thoughts which had been his ever since the girl could speak. A melancholy regret of the days of his childhood settled upon Captain Hubert, third aide-de-camp to the Prince of Ponte Corvo. He threw aside the letter of congratulation he had begun to write, as in duty bound, but without enthusiasm. He took a fresh piece of paper and traced on it the words, This is my last will and testament. Looking at these words, he gave himself up to unpleasant reflection, a presentiment that he would never see the scenes of his childhood weighed down, the equable spirits of Captain Hubert. He jumped up, pushing his chair back, yawned elaborately, and signed that he didn't care anything for presentiments, and throwing himself on the bed, went to sleep. During the night he shivered from time to time, without waking up. In the morning he rode out of town between his two seconds, talking of indifferent things, and looking right and left with apparent detachment into the heavy morning mists shrouding the flat green fields bordered by hedges. He leaped a ditch and saw the forms of many mounted men moving in the fog. We're at a fight before a gallery, it seems, he muttered to himself bitterly. His seconds were rather concerned at the state of the atmosphere, but presently a pale, sickly sun struggled out of the low vapors and Captain Hubert made out, in the distance, three horsemen riding a little apart from the others. It was Captain Farrad and his seconds. He drew his saber and assured himself that it was properly fastened to his wrist, and now the seconds, who had been standing in close group with the heads of their horses, together separated at an easy canter, leaving a large, clear field between him and his adversary. Captain Hubert looked at the pale sun, at the dismal fields, and the imbecility of the impending fight filled him with desolation. From a distant part of the field a stentorian voice shouted commands at proper intervals. Abbas! Atrat! Charges! Presentiments of death don't come to a man for nothing, he thought at the very moment he put his spurs to his horse. And therefore he was more than surprised when, at the very first set to, Captain Farrad laid himself open to a cut over the forehead, which, blinding him with blood, ended the combat almost before it had fairly begun. It was impossible to go on. Captain Hubert, leaving his enemy, swearing horribly and reeling in the saddle between his two appalled friends, leaped the ditch again into the road and trotted home with his two seconds, who seemed rather awestruck at the speedy issue of that encounter. In the evening Captain Hubert finished the congratulatory letter on his sister's marriage. He finished it late. It was a long letter. Captain Hubert gave reigns to his fancy. He told his sister that he would feel rather lonely after this great change in her life. But then the day would come for him, too, to get married. In fact, he was thinking already of the time when there would be no one left to fight within Europe and the epoch of wars would be over. I expect then, he wrote, to be within measurable distance of a marshal's baton. And you will be an experienced married woman. You shall look out a wife for me. I will be probably bald by then, and a little blasé. I shall require a young girl, pretty of course, and with a large fortune, which should help me to close my glorious career in the splendor befitting my exalted rank. He ended with the information that he had just given a lesson to a worrying, quarrelsome fellow who imagined he had a grievance against him. But if you, in the depths of your province," he continued, ever hear it said that your brother is of a quarrelsome disposition, don't you believe it on any account. There is no saying what gossip from the army may reach your innocent ears. Whatever you hear, you may rest assured that your ever-loving brother is not a dualist. Then Captain Hubert crumpled up the blank sheet of paper, headed with the words, This is my last will and testament, and threw it in the fire, with great laugh at himself. He didn't care a snap for what that lunatic could do. He had suddenly acquired the conviction that his adversary was utterly powerless to affect his life in any sort of way, except, perhaps, in the way of putting a special excitement into the delightful gay intervals between the campaigns.