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“I did not know you were such a fine shot,”
said the gallant colonel. “Why did you tell me
you had never handled a pistol before?”
Suddenly I burst into a roar of laughter, I did
not in the least know why.
“There is no cause for laughter,” said the
colonel sternly, “the man is dangerously
wounded, Professor Labbé looked very grave, it
may end in a tragedy.”
“So much the worse for him,” said I
miraculously regaining my power of speech, “he
kicked my defenceless old dog to death, he spends
his leisure hours killing swallows and skylarks, he
deserves all he gets. Do you know that the
Areopagus of Athens pronounced a death sentence
on a boy for having stung out the eyes of a
bird?”
“But you are not the Areopagus of Athens.”
“No, but neither am I the cause of this man’s
death if it comes to the worst. I had not even
time to take aim at him, the pistol went off all by
itself. It was not I who sent this bullet through
his lung, it was somebody else. Besides, since
you are so sorry for this brute, may I ask if it was
in order to miss him that you whispered in my
ear to aim low when you handed me the pistol?”
“I am glad to hear you have got your tongue
back in its right place, you old swaggerer,” smiled
the colonel. “I could hardly understand a word
you said when I dragged you into my carriage nor
did you yourself, I am sure, you went on
muttering the whole time something about a redbreast.”
When we entered Porte Maillot I had already
resumed full command over my silly nerves and
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