In killing
him I shall not only have punished the only person who has for many
years ventured to insult Otto Muller, but I shall have done a
service to a friend."
No sooner had Rupert regained his seat than Dillon exclaimed,
"Rupert, I shall never forgive myself. Others think you are mad,
but I know that you sacrifice yourself to save me.
"You did me an ill service, my lord," he said, turning to Lord
Fairholm, "by holding me back when I would have taken my proper
place. I shall never hold up my head again. But it will not be for
long, for when he has killed Rupert I will seek him wherever he may
go, and force him to kill me, too."
"My dear Dillon, I knew what I was doing," Lord Fairholm said. "It
was clear that either he or you had to meet this German cutthroat."
"But," Dillon asked, in astonishment, "why would you rather that
your friend Rupert should be killed than I?"
"You are not putting the case fairly," Lord Fairholm said. "Did it
stand so, I should certainly prefer that you should run this risk
than that Rupert should do so. But the case stands thus. In the
first place, it is really his quarrel; and in the second, while it
is certain that this German could kill you without fail, it is by
no means certain that he will kill Rupert."
Dillon's eyes opened with astonishment.
"Not kill him! Do you think that he will spare him after the way he
has been insulted before all of us?"
"No, there is little chance of that.
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