The Return of Tarzan Edgar Rice Burroughs (e book reader for pc .TXT) đ
- Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs
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âNow write,â said the ape-man. âIf it is necessary to handle you again I shall not be so lenient.â
Rokoff picked up a pen and commenced to write.
âSee that you omit no detail, and that you mention every name,â cautioned Tarzan.
Presently there was a knock at the door. âEnter,â said Tarzan.
A dapper young man came in. âI am from the Matin,â he announced. âI understand that Monsieur Rokoff has a story for me.â
âThen you are mistaken, monsieur,â replied Tarzan. âYou have no story for publication, have you, my dear Nikolas.â
Rokoff looked up from his writing with an ugly scowl upon his face.
âNo,â he growled, âI have no story for publicationâ ânow.â
âNor ever, my dear Nikolas,â and the reporter did not see the nasty light in the ape-manâs eye; but Nikolas Rokoff did.
âNor ever,â he repeated hastily.
âIt is too bad that monsieur has been troubled,â said Tarzan, turning to the newspaper man. âI bid monsieur good evening,â and he bowed the dapper young man out of the room, and closed the door in his face.
An hour later Tarzan, with a rather bulky manuscript in his coat pocket, turned at the door leading from Rokoffâs room.
âWere I you I should leave France,â he said, âfor sooner or later I shall find an excuse to kill you that will not in any way compromise your sister.â
VI A DuelDâArnot was asleep when Tarzan entered their apartments after leaving Rokoffâs. Tarzan did not disturb him, but the following morning he narrated the happenings of the previous evening, omitting not a single detail.
âWhat a fool I have been,â he concluded. âDe Coude and his wife were both my friends. How have I returned their friendship? Barely did I escape murdering the count. I have cast a stigma on the name of a good woman. It is very probable that I have broken up a happy home.â
âDo you love Olga de Coude?â asked DâArnot.
âWere I not positive that she does not love me I could not answer your question, Paul; but without disloyalty to her I tell you that I do not love her, nor does she love me. For an instant we were the victims of a sudden madnessâ âit was not loveâ âand it would have left us, unharmed, as suddenly as it had come upon us even though De Coude had not returned. As you know, I have had little experience of women. Olga de Coude is very beautiful; that, and the dim light and the seductive surroundings, and the appeal of the defenseless for protection, might have been resisted by a more civilized man, but my civilization is not even skin deepâ âit does not go deeper than my clothes.
âParis is no place for me. I will but continue to stumble into more and more serious pitfalls. The man-made restrictions are irksome. I feel always that I am a prisoner. I cannot endure it, my friend, and so I think that I shall go back to my own jungle, and lead the life that God intended that I should lead when He put me there.â
âDo not take it so to heart, Jean,â responded DâArnot. âYou have acquitted yourself much better than most âcivilizedâ men would have under similar circumstances. As to leaving Paris at this time, I rather think that Raoul de Coude may be expected to have something to say on that subject before long.â
Nor was DâArnot mistaken. A week later on Monsieur Flaubert was announced about eleven in the morning, as DâArnot and Tarzan were breakfasting. Monsieur Flaubert was an impressively polite gentleman. With many low bows he delivered Monsieur le Count de Coudeâs challenge to Monsieur Tarzan. Would monsieur be so very kind as to arrange to have a friend meet Monsieur Flaubert at as early an hour as convenient, that the details might be arranged to the mutual satisfaction of all concerned?
Certainly. Monsieur Tarzan would be delighted to place his interests unreservedly in the hands of his friend, Lieutenant DâArnot. And so it was arranged that DâArnot was to call on Monsieur Flaubert at two that afternoon, and the polite Monsieur Flaubert, with many bows, left them.
When they were again alone DâArnot looked quizzically at Tarzan.
âWell?â he said.
âNow to my sins I must add murder, or else myself be killed,â said Tarzan. âI am progressing rapidly in the ways of my civilized brothers.â
âWhat weapons shall you select?â asked DâArnot. âDe Coude is accredited with being a master with the sword, and a splendid shot.â
âI might then choose poisoned arrows at twenty paces, or spears at the same distance,â laughed Tarzan. âMake it pistols, Paul.â
âHe will kill you, Jean.â
âI have no doubt of it,â replied Tarzan. âI must die some day.â
âWe had better make it swords,â said DâArnot. âHe will be satisfied with wounding you, and there is less danger of a mortal wound.â
âPistols,â said Tarzan, with finality.
DâArnot tried to argue him out of it, but without avail, so pistols it was.
DâArnot returned from his conference with Monsieur Flaubert shortly after four.
âIt is all arranged,â he said. âEverything is satisfactory. Tomorrow morning at daylightâ âthere is a secluded spot on the road not far from Etamps. For some personal reason Monsieur Flaubert preferred it. I did not demur.â
âGood!â was Tarzanâs only comment. He did not refer to the matter again even indirectly. That night he wrote several letters before he retired. After sealing and addressing them he placed them all in an envelope addressed to DâArnot. As he undressed DâArnot heard him humming a
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