XXVII. THAT OF A DUEL IN FRANCE.

 Oh, Fa-la-la! likewise Hélas!

A shocking thing has come to pass,

For Monsieur Henri Delapaire

Has fallen out,—a sad affair,—

With Monsieur Jacques Mallette.

"La femme?" Of course! They both declare

They love la belle¹ Nannette.

Ma foi! They'll surely come to blows,

For one has tweaked the other's nose,

Who quickly snaps, with fierce grimace²,

His fingers in the other's face.

A duel³ must result.

A Frenchman's honour 'twould disgrace

To bear with such insult.

"Pistols for two!"—in French,—they cry.

Nannette to come between doth fly:

"Messieurs! Messieurs! pray, pray be calm!

You fill your Nannette with alarm."

"Parole d'honneur! No.

Revenge!" they cry. The big gendarme⁴,

Nannette to call, doth go.

Quickly a crowd has gathered round,

Pistols are brought, and seconds found;

A grassy⁵ space beneath the trees,

Where gentlemen may fight at ease;

Then, each takes off his coat—

Glaring meanwhile as though he'd seize

The other by the throat.

The seconds shrug⁶, gesticulate,

And pace the ground with step sedate⁷;

Then anxious consultation⁸ hold

O'er pistols, for the rivals bold

Who now stand white and stern;

Their arms across their chests they fold,

And sideways each doth turn.

The seconds place them vis-à-vis,

And give them word to fire at "three";

Brave Monsieur Mallette shuts his eyes,

And points his pistol to the skies;

Brave Monsieur Delapaire

His hand to steady vainly tries,

It trembles in the air.

 

A deadly silence: "Un—deux—trois!"

Two shots are ringing through the Bois.

Two shots,—and then two awful calms;

As, senseless, in their seconds' arms

The duellists both lay.

(Their faces pale the crowd alarms,

And fills them with dismay.)

 

"Killed?" Goodness gracious—oh, dear no!

This couldn't be,—in France,—you know,

For pistols there they never load.

But caps were they which did explode:

They've only swooned with fright.

See! one some signs of life has showed;

The crowd claps with delight.

They both revive. They both embrace.

Twice kiss each other on the face.

* * *

"Stay! Hold!" you cry. "You said, I thought,

La belle Nannette the gendarme sought?"

She did,—la belle Nannette,—

She sought, and found him—charming quite.

She stays there with him yet.

She "never cared for Delapaire,"

She says with most dégagé air;

And "as for Monsieur Mallette,—well,

He may discover—who can tell?—

Someone to marry yet."

Meanwhile le gendarme pour la belle,

The fickle⁹, fair Nannette.

1 belle   

n.靓女

参考例句：

• She was the belle of her Sunday School class.在主日学校她是她们班的班花。
• She was the belle of the ball.她是那个舞会中的美女。

2 grimace   

v.做鬼脸，面部歪扭

参考例句：

• The boy stole a look at his father with grimace.那男孩扮着鬼脸偷看了他父亲一眼。
• Thomas made a grimace after he had tasted the wine.托马斯尝了那葡萄酒后做了个鬼脸。

3 duel   

n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争

参考例句：

• The two teams are locked in a duel for first place.两个队为争夺第一名打得难解难分。
• Duroy was forced to challenge his disparager to duel.杜洛瓦不得不向诋毁他的人提出决斗。

4 gendarme   

n.宪兵

参考例句：

• A gendarme was crossing the court.一个宪兵正在院子里踱步。
• While he was at work,a gendarme passed,observed him,and demanded his papers.正在他工作时，有个警察走过，注意到他，便向他要证件。

5 grassy   

adj.盖满草的；长满草的

参考例句：

• They sat and had their lunch on a grassy hillside.他们坐在长满草的山坡上吃午饭。
• Cattle move freely across the grassy plain.牛群自由自在地走过草原。

6 shrug   

v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等)

参考例句：

• With a shrug,he went out of the room.他耸一下肩，走出了房间。
• I admire the way she is able to shrug off unfair criticism.我很佩服她能对错误的批评意见不予理会。

7 sedate   

adj.沉着的，镇静的，安静的

参考例句：

• After the accident,the doctor gave her some pills to sedate her.事故发生后，医生让她服了些药片使她镇静下来。
• We spent a sedate evening at home.我们在家里过了一个恬静的夜晚。

8 consultation   

n.咨询；商量；商议；会议

参考例句：

• The company has promised wide consultation on its expansion plans.该公司允诺就其扩展计划广泛征求意见。
• The scheme was developed in close consultation with the local community.该计划是在同当地社区密切磋商中逐渐形成的。

9 fickle   

adj.(爱情或友谊上)易变的，不坚定的

参考例句：

• Fluctuating prices usually base on a fickle public's demand.物价的波动往往是由于群众需求的不稳定而引起的。
• The weather is so fickle in summer.夏日的天气如此多变。