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Show morning to keep a promise she bad made to visit a sick and extremely nfC'd Creole woman who lived iu a small house buck in tho woods on tlio roud to Jordon river. Feeling oppressed with what had occurred between !ier arid Pierre, she ordered or-dered her (tenant to fetch her pony and und curt and drove away alono before tho rest of the household wero up. She left tho servant behind, wishing to be entirely free to commune with her heurt und to devise: if possible some means of softening Pierre's disappointment. While she feared that foinctiiing dreadful might come of the terrible paKiion of tho young man, she did not dream that, even while she drove slowly along the dim road under the tre.es, a duel watt in progress between him and Ilonore Chauvin. Her pony, a stout, gentle animal, ani-mal, joggf-d ipiietly forward in the Hand between the tufts of Spanish bayonet and thickets of bay bushes; overhead the pine trees moaned and the grand magnolias rustled their stiff, glossy foliage. Hnddenly three or four goats, part of a ' herd that had been turned out to (rrazt j and browse in the woods, leajM'd out of t. I little tangle of tall wild grass hard by and dashed across the l oad close in front of the pony. Marie at tlut time was absorbed ab-sorbed in thought, mid held the lines wilh a slack hand. The pony took fright, ii( j tho genllest lioro sometimes will, and j first having boiled over in deadly fight. What Pierro Maton did was to go straight to his friend Ilonore Chauvin uud slap him in tho fare. "That for Marie do Noyant!" he ex-claimed, ex-claimed, still choking with the desperate choler excited by his sense of defeat, "That for yon!" he went on, repeating ; tho insulting blow. Then ho turned and left Ilonore, well knowing what would follow. Tho challenge was promptly sent and ' as promptly accepted. The following morning at a little past sunrise the combatants, with their sec-i sec-i onds and surgeons, met in a small open , space where two or three little wild wood I roads, dim and straggling, crossed each j oilier in the forest part of what was then j known as the Toulme plantation. They ! were to light with swords. The weapons wero measured, positions chosen, tho word given, and the fight to the death was begun by a thin, keen, far reaching clink of steel crossing steel. Many a time had these young men, now eager for each other's blood, fenced in manly play, and well did both know how equally were they matched, and how doubtful was tiie outcome of tho struggle they were beginning. Both were pale, but cool and wary; in Their eyes burned the hateful fire of unforgiving unforgiv-ing anger. The Kifonds stood aside, silently si-lently but intently gazing on; tho stir-giims, stir-giims, a little farther away, held their bandages and instruments ready. Ilonore Chauvin, to do him justice, did not wish to kih Pierre Maton, but meant, if ho could, to disable him. This, however, was no: so easy, for Pierre, eager to slay, and Mirnin;: with r.ige of 1 disappointed passion, waa lighting like a ! mad tiger, and yet wilh supreme vigi-I iance and art. Tht ir swords cut the air wilh hissing swiftness and filled this sjuee wiili ;i clangor an 1 i-Iiov.'tr of ipiteful sp.iri.s ' that might well Iiuvh stilled all 111" wild : songs of the birds in the woods round-! a'ooiil. Once lite, keen point of Pierre's I rapier barely toiu-'.i.'d li,.uoru'a throat,! letlillg t ho lei;'1. ;:'ie',v of blood. Ill turn Pierre felt a tili:-!ii.g H'T.tll ll on his ,,U'U brea.-t., but this xehaugo of louche rmtv n iii into the fi 'hf. ! new access of : LOVE AND KAl'IEUS. ' The village of Hay St. Louis was a favorite dueling ground in tho days when an appeal to swords or to pistols was thought by southern gentlemen to be the only honorable way of set tling personal grievances. Those daysarepast, and now there is not a snore peaceful and certainly certain-ly not a more lioautiful town in all the picturesque coast country. il ever you shall bo going to New Orleans Or-leans by way of the railroad from Mobile Mo-bile you will find it well worth while to stop and spend a few clays at this lovely summer resort. If you will take a carriage and a driver who knows tlio place you may spend a day or two delightfully in exploring the ins and nuts, by highway and byway, of a settlement that dates back to the time when the Spaniards and the French were playing battledore and shuttlecock with all our rich and salubrious gulf-coast country. Even now in the streets and picturesque little shojA of Pay St. Louis you hear the soft accents of Spain and the polite intonations of Paris. The people have soft voices and gentle manners, and it is hard to imagine, much harder to believe, that it was ever true of them thnt. th"rMooJ ready, on tiie strength of the f-ltifhipst ins ill , to fi'i'it to the ileal h as a mailer of honor; bi.t o it wis. There lire i:ien living now who saw many duels in the days of the ln ""1 ..1,1 whirled about and, almost upsetting the j cart, ran away through the forest as fast j asliu legs could carry him, The movement move-ment whisked tho lines out of Marie'i grasp, and so she lost control. Discovering Discover-ing his freedom, and crazed with flight, the hitherto gentle little animal now Id-came Id-came a savage and terrible beast, reckless reck-less of evi -ry thing, giving no attention tc , road or direction. The reader will understand at once how tli cntaMroplie came about at the dueling ground, b.r tho pony, accident- i sly hea'ini!,' ii.M if that way. ran madly ' :.nd blindly upon the combatants. It i was ft ii mi dead a half mile f rom the spot, wi'h Pierre's rapier sheathed to the hilt in '.. brr.ft. If fill ru-1 the weapon's point jii;-t as il was a limit t" dart inio thfc heai t of Hoiiore Chauvin. i The strangest pru t i f I he whole advvn- I : tnro was t hat .Mario escaped without i even (he slightest hurt. I The young men wero borne to the ; nearest house, whero for mupy hours they lay side by side insensible; llonore's i hurts were nearly fatal, and Pierre was crippled for life. In the course of theii convalescence they both received the' gentle and untiring cere of Marie, and before tht y wrenbe to leave the horse their friendship had lieen restored. Aunt Clotliilile, a very old colored woman, who speaks nothing but the French patois of the creole country, it the only survivor of the slaves owned by Marie do Movant's father at the time of tliu duel. You may, if you will visit her in her little house on Hospital street in New Orleans, have the story, that 1 have here sketched, told to you in the most picturesque way, mid it always ends w ith a minute description of how beautiful Mario lookd in her white wedding gown when she and Honor Chauvin were married. In the course of frequent and long sojourns in the old French region of the south I have made note of many roiiiau-I roiiiau-I ie, odd or ot'ierwise in! resting strii. i of tiueling, but none of I hem seems tc me more strange than this told mo by Aunt Clotliilde. Last winter I visited the spot whert the duel was fought, and while I tried to imagine the set ne as it was sixty-si j years ago a mocking bird quavered itf j incomparable flute score from a wai 1 myrtle hush, on (lie edge of a flowery thicket hard by. What a peaceful sjiof it was! Maurice Thompson in New York Ledger. , I'liui!, Villi l Ilill will's out gem leill.oi informed the present writer that ho had witnesasd twenty hostile meetings with sword or pistol. Before the days of f he railroad which now makes Br.y St. Louis but one hour and thirty minutes from New Orleans, Or-leans, the only approach was by water, save from the interior of Mississippi. 'This rendered the place one of the most secluded nooks in America, and, hh a matter of course, a considerable number of refugees from justice or from misfortune mis-fortune or tyranny fled thither; but the larger part of the population was highly respectable; some of it was made up, especially in summer, of the wealthiest and best French families of New Orleans, Or-leans, who came by steamboat to spend the hot season in elegant cottages on the breezy blulls. Nearly all the duels ever fought at Pay St. Louis took place in ono or another an-other secluded spot in the lonely woods bt hind the town. These woods are now Col ted with creolo and negro cottages, the homes of poor people, who find an easy if not luxurious life whero tho fish Hi the bayous and tho fruits on tie' tr- :s jit-..- to tie had villi but the smallest out-Ivy out-Ivy tf Labor. Lver sinre the place was til t-t M-uled, and even before, these woods have hcuu a maze of crossed and tangled roads, paths and trails first ma le by the Indians. You can ride or drive everywhere and in every direction, and yet the growth is thick, often obstructing ob-structing tho sight on all sides. Now uud again you come upon little natural glades or openings set in wild grass and surrounded with a wall of trees. These are tho spots Unit Were chosen for tho dreadful work of the duelists. About tho year 182 1 two young men of New Orleans were lovers of a lieauti-l'ul lieauti-l'ul girl by tho name of Mario do Noyant, whose father had a summer place at Bay St. Louis. Of course, Mario could not accept the attentions of both if she loved either, and as Ilonore Chauvin had captured her heart, there was nothing noth-ing for Pierre Maton to do but to challenge chal-lenge his successful rival to mortal com- I bat. energy. As the exercise began to steady their excited nerves and lend suppleness to their leaping muscles they redouble! their effort.-!, and Ilonore forgot his resolve re-solve to only wound Pierre, while Pierre felt his desire to kill swell into a steady, deadly tempest of passion. Again and again each of tho combat-nuts combat-nuts received slight wounds, mere , scratches; but neither appeared able to liiv -,k the other's guard or to find an tin- . defended point, such touches as they had given and received being more tho result of close lighting tlian of advantage cither way. Hut no matter how young and strong they were, or how expert, this could not last very long. The tremendous tre-mendous strain was sure to tell. Who would fail first and permit the other to make tho fatal pass? They were panting now, and the white foaia was gathering on their purple, lips. Their eyes, starting and glaring with concentrated fury, were fixed and ter-riblain ter-riblain their animal expression. It was as if these two men, so lately friends und almost brothers, were ready to mangle man-gle and devour each other lileo savage Wild beasis. iiapjidv the time when such thirgs could lie liu? gone by, but it is by keeping keep-ing record o those M range acts that we are able to understand the growth of our present civilization. The duel lingered lin-gered longer in the south than in the north, and especially in the low country diil it last without much sign of passing away till some time after tho close of our great war. Looking back now we can scarcely realize that only half a century ago it was a common occurrence for two men to do what we are witnessing witness-ing between Ilonore Chauvin and Pierre Maton. So much was dueling a part of the life of the peoplo in the early years of the present century that in some parts of our country to refuse a challenge was to invito in-vito social ostracism, and not to give and not to give one on fit occasion was sure to attract contempt. The seconds and the surgeons stood by so wrapjx'd in contemplation of tho even liandi'd lifjlit, so engrossed in watoliin;; tho k-apinii liludrs, und so forgetful of evt-rytliiiifj savo this jilay of doitth, that thoy did not hoar the Bound of whotda mid tho rapid In-atiii),' of a flying horse's foot. As for the principals, they would not have hoard if a thunderbolt had fallen at tln-ir feet. They were now fighting in the last spurt of strength before be-fore ono or the other must fail. Each felt that if his antagonist held up a few minutes longer all would be over, Tho reflection of this thought set a terriblo light in their drawn anil haggard faces. ; The muffled sound of wheels in the sand a,nd of the furious flight of a horse come nearer and nearer. The seconds , leaned forward as the intensity of their sympathy with their principals seemed to shrivel them, as if with heat; the surgeons sur-geons unconsciously drew closer to the panting, laboring duelists. Ilonore Chauvin at this moment made The three families Noyants, Cliau-vins Cliau-vins and Matons were of the best in Jev Orleans, and had always been on tho most iutiinato terms socially. I lonore and lierre had known Marie from her childhood up; they had been her playmates, play-mates, her friends, and now they were Ler lovers. Both were handsome, rich and honorable, as honor was understood at the time and place. If Mario hesitated hesi-tated to choose between theni it was not because of any doubt in her heart. She knew that she loved Ilonore, and quite as well she was aware that under no circumstances cir-cumstances could hho ever love Pierre. Still it was very hard for her, when Pierre came to her home on the bay and asked her to be his wife it was hard to break in on his passionate appeal with the truth that must crush him. She begged for time to consider, and thus put off the unpleasant, nay, the tortur- . in;;, duty that she owed to herself ami ; to her lovers. But tho moment came when she could no longer procrastinate. Ilonore, doubtless aware that his rival was besieging the citadel of his lady's heart, came also to Bay St. Louis and urged hU suit. j Gently, kindly, sweetly as she could, Marie put an end to Pierre's hopes; but it was not in her power to blunt in tiie leaiit the terrible point of her refusal. Lovois not to be hct aside with politeness, polite-ness, nor can it be assuaged by generous friendship mid tender kindness. Anything Any-thing short of love is a tab to love. "Then it is Ilonore Chauvin that yon care for, Marie;" baid Pierre, rising to ko. Marie arose also, and they stood look-ing look-ing at each other. They had been sitting sit-ting on a vino covered veranda, with tli waves of the bay tumbling in :;;r.v::. :t Iu-' beach in iuii vi ,. "Vcs, Pierre," slie kui! pr.'-i'iiily, "I will not, deceive you or evade your question. ques-tion. I do love Ilonore, and I prunn.- i him today that 1 would be his wife." Pierro stood dumb for a while. Th'-ro was nothing for him to say; words w n not made that could in any way serve Lis turn in this moment of utter defeat. "Oh, I am so sorry, so grieved, Pierre, to see you feel liko this!" cried Mario. "You know I love you as a brother is loved, very, very mm h, and" "As a brother!" muttered Pierre, with Vttor, desperate emphasis "as a brother!" broth-er!" And lie turned and left the girl's presence without another word. She made a movement a? if to follow him, but he had passed down tie- sU-ps and out of the gate with long strides, like some actor in i melodrama. Her first thought was of danger to Ilonore Chauvin: for in those day3 the hot Fruneii blood rarelv cooled without a lunge; Pierre avoided it by a supremo effort; the movement caused them to exchange ex-change po.-itions, and as they did so Pierre shot out a quick thrust that pierced llonore's sleeve without touching touch-ing tho flesh; hi;j point hii'ig a half second, sec-ond, and Ilonore was just in the net of running him through whe'i he tripped on a small root and staggered back. Now they both rallied and renewed the contest con-test with a momentary show of return ing strength; but Honore was failing. Pierre taw this and rushed upon him with feeble but furious enerery, striving to beat down his guard. Ho had succeeded, suc-ceeded, and Ilonore was at his mercy. The next breath there was a sharp cry of terror, the voice of a woman in utt 't distress, and n strange, dull rushing sound followed by a crash. Tiie duelists were swept from their feet and dashi'l headlong, a horse tumbled over them Cud the fragments o a small vehicle were scattered around. In the mid -t of this wreck thus liurlc.l ilium tho contestants a young woman rose to her feet and stood, beautiful, disheveled, dis-heveled, frightened almost to madness, but unhurt. It was Marie do Noyant. The horse, after falling and rolling over, struggled to its feet, and, wiih parts of its harness still clinging to it and trailing and whirling alxiut, ran frantically away through tho woods iu the direction of the town. Overcome for a moment, the seconds and surgeons st-xxl staring and motionless, motion-less, bnt they were men of nerve, and needed but time to t,tfc a breath a"d pitil themrelve together tofore "-;r:ivr-ing forward to tho asnbdance of Honore and Pierre, who lay as if dead on the ground where tho bliock of the collision had flung t.Vm. Marie do N03 ant ba.1 arisen early that |