The birth of a little girl did not seem in the slightest degree to renew the ties between them; on the contrary, the embarrassment of a baby, and the cost it must entail, were the only considerations he would entertain, and it was a constant question of his--uttered, too, with a tone of sarcasm that cut her to the heart: 'Would not her brother--the Lord Irlandais--like to have that baby?
Would she not write and ask him ?' Unpleasant stories had long been rife about the play at the Greek legation, when a young Russian secretary, of high family and influence, lost an immense sum under circumstances which determined him to refuse payment.

Kostalergi, who had been the chief winner, refused everything like inquiry or examination; in fact, he made investigation impossible, for the cards, which the Russian had declared to be marked, the Greek gathered up slowly from the table and threw into the fire, pressing his foot upon them in the flames, and then calmly returning to where the other stood, he struck him across the face with his open hand, saying, as he did it: 'Here is another debt to repudiate, and before the same witnesses also!' The outrage did not admit of delay.

The arrangements were made in an instant, and within half an hour--merely time enough to send for a surgeon--they met at the end of the garden of the legation.

The Russian fired first, and though a consummate pistol-shot, agitation at the insult so unnerved him that he missed: his ball cut the knot of Kostalergi's cravat.

The Greek took a calm and deliberate aim, and sent his bullet through the other's forehead.