"I came not here to talk of you, but of my nephew.

Why did he visit you ?" "To do me the honour of asking me to second him at St.Germain this evening." "And so you think that this duel is to be fought ?--that my nephew is to be murdered ?" "We will endeavour to prevent his being--as your Eminence daintily puts it--murdered.

But for the rest, the duel, methinks, cannot be avoided." "Cannot!" he blazed.

"Do you say cannot, M.de Luynes?
Mark me well, sir: I will use no dissimulation with you.

My position in France is already a sufficiently difficult one.