Even in the distinguished circles in Petersburg, in which he had moved of late, he behaved with extraordinary haughtiness.
His meeting in Petersburg with Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch, who had just returned from abroad, almost sent him out of his mind.

At the present moment, standing at the barrier, he was terribly uneasy.

He kept imagining that the duel would somehow not come off; the least delay threw him into a tremor.

There was an expression of anguish in his face when Kirillov, instead of giving the signal for them to fire, began suddenly speaking, only for form, indeed, as he himself explained aloud.
"Simply as a formality, now that you have the pistols in your hands, and I must give the signal, I ask you for the last time, will you not be reconciled?
It's the duty of a second." As though to spite him, Mavriky Nikolaevitch, who had till then kept silence, although he had been reproaching himself all day for his compliance and acquiescence, suddenly caught up Kirillov's thought and began to speak: "I entirely agree with Mr.Kirillov's words....

This idea that reconciliation is impossible at the barrier is a prejudice, only suitable for Frenchmen.