“I mean,” said Albert, drawing near, and without apparently noticing Cavalcanti, who stood with his back towards the fireplace⁠—“I mean to propose a meeting in some retired corner where no one will interrupt us for ten minutes; that will be sufficient⁠—where two men having met, one of them will remain on the ground.”

Danglars turned pale; Cavalcanti moved a step forward, and Albert turned towards him.

“And you, too,” said he, “come, if you like, monsieur; you have a claim, being almost one of the family, and I will give as many rendezvous of that kind as I can find persons willing to accept them.”

Cavalcanti looked at Danglars with a stupefied air, and the latter, making an effort, arose and stepped between the two young men. Albert’s attack on Andrea had placed him on a different footing, and he hoped this visit had another cause than that he had at first supposed.