Page:Reminisences of Captain Gronow.djvu/163

fire-eater. The number of duels in which he had been engaged would seem incredible in the present day: he is said to have killed nine of his opponents in one year!

The Marquis de H——, descended of an ancient family in Brittany, also in the Garde du Corps, likewise fought innumerable duels, killing many of his antagonists. I have heard that on entering the army he was not of a quarrelsome disposition, but being laughed at and bullied into fighting by his brother officers, he, from the day of his first duel, like a wild beast that had once smelt blood, took a delight in such fatal scenes, and was ever ready to rush at and quarrel with any one. The Marquis has now, I am glad to say, subsided into a very quiet, placable, and peace-making old gentleman; but at the time I speak of he was much blamed for his duel with F——, a young man of nineteen. While dining at a cafe he exclaimed, "J'ai envie de tuer quelq'un," and rushed out into the street and to the theatres, trying to pick a quarrel; but he was so well known that no one was found willing to encounter him. At last, at the Théâtre de la Porte St. Martin, he grossly insulted this young man, who was, I think, an élève of the Ecole Polytechnique, and a