The Point Of Honor: A Military Tale Read online

  Produced by David Widger

  THE POINT OF HONOR

  BY

  A MILITARY TALE

  BY

  JOSEPH CONRAD

  ILLUSTRATIONS BY DAN SAYRE GROESBECK

  NEW YORK

  THE MCCLURE COMPANY

  MCMVIII

  Copyright, 1908, by The McClure Company

  Copyright, 1907, 1908, by Joseph Conrad

  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  "You will fight no more duels now" Frontispiece

  "Bowing before a sylph-like form reclining on a couch"

  "The angry clash of arms filled that prim garden"

  "You take the nearest brute, Colonel D'Hubert"

  I

  Napoleon the First, whose career had the quality of a duel against thewhole of Europe, disliked duelling between the officers of his army. Thegreat military emperor was not a swashbuckler, and had little respectfor tradition.

  Nevertheless, a story of duelling which became a legend in the army runsthrough the epic of imperial wars. To the surprise and admiration oftheir fellows, two officers, like insane artists trying to gild refinedgold or paint the lily, pursued their private contest through theyears of universal carnage. They were officers of cavalry, and theirconnection with the high-spirited but fanciful animal which carries meninto battle seems particularly appropriate. It would be difficult toimagine for heroes of this legend two officers of infantry of the line,for example, whose fantasy is tamed by much walking exercise and whosevalour necessarily must be of a more plodding kind. As to artillery,or engineers whose heads are kept cool on a diet of mathematics, it issimply unthinkable.

  The names of the two officers were Feraud and D'Hubert, and they wereboth lieutenants in a regiment of hussars, but not in the same regiment.

  Feraud was doing regimental work, but Lieutenant D'Hubert had the goodfortune to be attached to the person of the general commanding thedivision, as _officier d'ordonnance_. It was in Strasbourg, and in thisagreeable and important garrison, they were enjoying greatly a shortinterval of peace. They were enjoying it, though both intensely warlike,because it was a sword-sharpening, firelock-cleaning peace dear to amilitary heart and undamaging to military prestige inasmuch that no onebelieved in its sincerity or duration.

  Under those historical circumstances so favourable to the properappreciation of military leisure Lieutenant D'Hubert could have beenseen one fine afternoon making his way along the street of a cheerfulsuburb towards Lieutenant Feraud's quarters, which were in a privatehouse with a garden at the back, belonging to an old maiden lady.

  His knock at the door was answered instantly by a young maid in Alsatiancostume. Her fresh complexion and her long eyelashes, which she loweredmodestly at the sight of the tall officer, caused Lieutenant D'Hubert,who was accessible to esthetic impressions, to relax the cold, on-dutyexpression of his face. At the same time he observed that the girl hadover her arm a pair of hussar's breeches, red with a blue stripe.

  "Lieutenant Feraud at home?" he inquired benevolently.

  "Oh, no, sir. He went out at six this morning."

  And the little maid tried to close the door, but Lieutenant D'Hubert,opposing this move with gentle firmness, stepped into the anteroomjingling his spurs.

  "Come, my dear. You don't mean to say he has not been home since sixo'clock this morning?"

  Saying these words, Lieutenant D'Hubert opened without ceremony thedoor of a room so comfortable and neatly ordered that only from internalevidence in the shape of boots, uniforms and military accoutrements, didhe acquire the conviction that it was Lieutenant Feraud's room. And hesaw also that Lieutenant Feraud was not at home. The truthful maid hadfollowed him and looked up inquisitively.

  "H'm," said Lieutenant D'Hubert, greatly disappointed, for he hadalready visited all the haunts where a lieutenant of hussars could befound of a fine afternoon. "And do you happen to know, my dear, why hewent out at six this morning?"

  "No," she answered readily. "He came home late at night and snored. Iheard him when I got up at five. Then he dressed himself in his oldestuniform and went out. Service, I suppose."

  "Service? Not a bit of it!" cried Lieutenant D'Hubert. "Learn, my child,that he went out so early to fight a duel with a civilian."

  She heard the news without a quiver of her dark eyelashes. It was veryobvious that the actions of Lieutenant Feraud were generally abovecriticism. She only looked up for a moment in mute surprise, andLieutenant D'Hubert concluded from this absence of emotion that shemust have seen Lieutenant Feraud since the morning. He looked around theroom.

  "Come," he insisted, with confidential familiarity. "He's perhapssomewhere in the house now?"

  She shook her head.

  "So much the worse for him," continued Lieutenant D'Hubert, in a tone ofanxious conviction. "But he has been home this morning?"

  This time the pretty maid nodded slightly.

  "He has!" cried Lieutenant D'Hubert. "And went out again? What for?Couldn't he keep quietly indoors? What a lunatic! My dear child...."

  Lieutenant D'Hubert's natural kindness of disposition and strong senseof comradeship helped his powers of observation, which generally werenot remarkable. He changed his tone to a most insinuating softness; andgazing at the hussar's breeches hanging over the arm of the girl, heappealed to the interest she took in Lieutenant Feraud's comfort andhappiness. He was pressing and persuasive. He used his eyes, which werelarge and fine, with excellent effect. His anxiety to get hold atonce of Lieutenant Feraud, for Lieutenant Feraud's own good, seemed sogenuine that at last it overcame the girl's discretion. Unluckily shehad not much to tell. Lieutenant Feraud had returned home shortly beforeten; had walked straight into his room and had thrown himself on hisbed to resume his slumbers. She had heard him snore rather louder thanbefore far into the afternoon. Then he got up, put on his best uniformand went out. That was all she knew.

  She raised her candid eyes up to Lieutenant D'Hubert, who stared at herincredulously.

  "It's incredible. Gone parading the town in his best uniform! My dearchild, don't you know that he ran that civilian through this morning?Clean through as you spit a hare."

  She accepted this gruesome intelligence without any signs of distress.But she pressed her lips together thoughtfully.

  "He isn't parading the town," she remarked, in a low tone. "Far fromit."

  "The civilian's family is making an awful row," continued LieutenantD'Hubert, pursuing his train of thought. "And the general is very angry.It's one of the best families in the town. Feraud ought to have keptclose at least...."

  "What will the general do to him?" inquired the girl anxiously.

  "He won't have his head cut off, to be sure," answered LieutenantD'Hubert. "But his conduct is positively indecent. He's making no end oftrouble for himself by this sort of bravado."

  "But he isn't parading the town," the maid murmured again.

  "Why, yes! Now I think of it. I haven't seen him anywhere. What on earthhas he done with himself?"

  "He's gone to pay a call," suggested the maid, after a moment ofsilence.

  Lieutenant D'Hubert was surprised. "A call! Do you mean a call on alady? The cheek of the man. But how do you know this?"

  Without concealing her woman's scorn for the denseness of the masculinemind, the pretty maid reminded him that Lieutenant Feraud had arrayedhimself in his best uniform before going out. He had also put on hisnewest dolman, she added in a tone as if this conversation were gettingon her nerves and turned away brusquely. Lieutenant D'Hubert, withoutquestioning the accuracy of the implied deduction, did not see that itadvanced him much on his official quest. For his quest after LieutenantFeraud had an official character. He did
not know any of the women thisfellow who had run a man through in the morning was likely to call on inthe afternoon. The two officers knew each other but slightly. He bit hisgloved finger in perplexity.

  "Call!" he exclaimed. "Call on the devil." The girl, with her back tohim and folding the hussar's breeches on a chair, said with a vexedlittle laugh:

  "Oh, no! On Madame de Lionne." Lieutenant D'Hubert whistled softly.Madame de Lionne, the wife of a high official, had a well-known salonand some pretensions to sensibility and elegance. The husband was acivilian and old, but the society of the salon was young and militaryfor the greater part. Lieutenant D'Hubert had whistled, not because theidea of pursuing Lieutenant Feraud