The Rape of Venice by Dennis Wheatley

a position to tell me what has been settled.’
    Colonel Thursby’s private sitting-room held many indications of the way in which he had made his considerable fortune. There were models of machines that he had either invented or improved, and maps of the great canal system that he had aided the Duke of Bridgewater to plan, and most of the books on his shelves were works on engineering. There was also, beside the mantel, a rack holding a row of long-stemmed clay pipes, and the Colonel was puffing quietly at one.
    Roger was not an addict of the weed, but he enjoyed an occasional pipe with Georgina’s father; so, while he told himhow things were moving, he took down the churchwarden that had his initials on it and began to fill it from the Colonel’s tobacco jar.
    The Colonel nodded. ‘So Dick Sheridan and Lord Edward are arranging a meeting. Well, we can only hope that no harm comes to you from it.’
    â€˜As I am the challenger, the choice of weapons lies with him,’ Roger replied. ‘But either way, I don’t think you need be greatly concerned about me. If it be swords I have little to fear. He must be at least fifteen years older than myself, and he is anything but an agile man; so I doubt not I’d make rings round him. With pistols, too, the odds should be in my favour. Unless he’s an expert marksman, I’d wing him before he gets a bead on me.’
    â€˜I hope that he choose swords. A duel with pistols is always a chancy matter. Even a man who has never fired one in his life may score a lucky hit; and if you were seriously injured, I should be distressed beyond measure. The more so as it was my act in exposing his trickery, and then you protecting me from his assault, which have led to this.’
    â€˜I pray you don’t give that another thought, Sir. You had every right to unmask the rogue, and no one could have foreseen that he would knock me down.’ Roger drew the flame from a taper onto the tobacco in his pipe, then added, ‘Frankly, though, I’d give a lot for this imbroglio to have taken some other turn, so that I’d not been forced to challenge him.’
    â€˜Since he struck you in the face, you had no option.’
    â€˜That’s just the rub; and why, though I doubt his doing so, I hope he will choose swords. As I told you at breakfast, Georgina asked him here at my request, that I might have a prospect of winning him over to Mr. Pitt’s interest. Were I still saddled with that I’d be in an unholy mess. But by a stroke of good fortune, later in the morning I received a despatch from Downing Street relieving me of further responsibility in the matter. Even so, should I chance to lay him low for some weeks with a pistol bullet, that would sadly prejudice the negotiations he is about to open with the Foreign Office. If, on the other hand, we fight with swords, I’ll almost certainly be able to disarm him, or, at worst, give him a slight jab in the sword arm. Then there’d be no fear of regrettable repercussions afterwards.’
    For some half-hour they talked on, but in a lighter vein, then Droopy Ned joined them. Peering with his short-sighted eyes at Roger, he said:
    â€˜â€™Tis to be at six o’clock tomorrow morning by the little temple on the far side of the lake. I fear, though, you may be somewhat disconcerted by his choice of weapons. He has chosen pikes.’
    â€˜Strap me!’ exclaimed Roger. ‘You can’t be serious, Ned.’
    Droopy nodded. ‘I am. Sheridan did his utmost to persuade him to accept more orthodox weapons, but he said that, being a studious and peaceable man by nature, he had never used a sword, and that an astigmatism of the eyes prevents him from shooting straight. He can hardly be blamed for selecting a weapon which will make the chances between you more even, and I did not feel that I had sound grounds for standing out against it.’
    â€˜No ... no; I suppose