Post by Louis XIV on Nov 17, 2022 2:44:46 GMT
For Honour! by Chevalier Zacharie Grosjean
I have found that reporting on affairs de honour for this august publication can be either drought or deluge. December is a case in point as the month opened with two arranged affairs d’honour, both involving the noted Parisian physician and Commissioner for Public Safety, Lord Bastian Anton De’Ath.
The first affair was against the newly commissioned Subaltern Gadiffer Burnet of the Dragoon Guards over the subaltern wooing Bertha Trinttignant away from the good docteur. The seconds arranged for a duel with pistols, a single exchange of shots at thirty paces. Lord De’Ath arrived with a new rifled dueling pistol with a snaphapse firing mechanism while Subaltern Burnet chose a more conventional matchlock dueling pistol will rifling. As one might expect from a pistol duel at thirty paces in the dim morning light, both combatants missed their shots and the seconds declared honor to be satisfied and the affair was considered settled.
The second affair was against Lord Lyon, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, over the beautiful widow, Mdm d’Armagnac. Lord Lyon armed himself with a saber but Lord De’Ath eschewed his family’s ceremonial two-handed sword in favor of a rapier.
Lord De’Ath was determined to draw first blood with a lunge but Lord Lyon anticipated the attack and jumped back causing the doctor’s thrust to fall short. The next action was a simultaneous attack by both duelists. Lord De’Ath’s thrust went wide but Lord Lyon’s slash met it mark. This attack was followed by another successful slash by the King’s minister.
The doctor’s third lunge hit home giving some hope that he would prevail but that hope was quickly dashed by a vicious cut by Lyon Lord that encouraged his opponent to surrender. Lord Balls and the second for Lord Lyon stepped in to separate the combatants allowing both to seek medical attention.
I have found that reporting on affairs de honour for this august publication can be either drought or deluge. December is a case in point as the month opened with two arranged affairs d’honour, both involving the noted Parisian physician and Commissioner for Public Safety, Lord Bastian Anton De’Ath.
The first affair was against the newly commissioned Subaltern Gadiffer Burnet of the Dragoon Guards over the subaltern wooing Bertha Trinttignant away from the good docteur. The seconds arranged for a duel with pistols, a single exchange of shots at thirty paces. Lord De’Ath arrived with a new rifled dueling pistol with a snaphapse firing mechanism while Subaltern Burnet chose a more conventional matchlock dueling pistol will rifling. As one might expect from a pistol duel at thirty paces in the dim morning light, both combatants missed their shots and the seconds declared honor to be satisfied and the affair was considered settled.
The second affair was against Lord Lyon, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, over the beautiful widow, Mdm d’Armagnac. Lord Lyon armed himself with a saber but Lord De’Ath eschewed his family’s ceremonial two-handed sword in favor of a rapier.
Lord De’Ath was determined to draw first blood with a lunge but Lord Lyon anticipated the attack and jumped back causing the doctor’s thrust to fall short. The next action was a simultaneous attack by both duelists. Lord De’Ath’s thrust went wide but Lord Lyon’s slash met it mark. This attack was followed by another successful slash by the King’s minister.
The doctor’s third lunge hit home giving some hope that he would prevail but that hope was quickly dashed by a vicious cut by Lyon Lord that encouraged his opponent to surrender. Lord Balls and the second for Lord Lyon stepped in to separate the combatants allowing both to seek medical attention.