Actorviews (1923)

A Duel or Two for Mr. Ditrichstein 21 a good licking? That wouldn’t be Leo,” said Mrs. Leo. “How old were you?” “Twenty-two. And that abruptly terminated my engagement in Linz, where I was playing.” “Who was the other jade you fought over?” “She wasn’t, my dear. We were almost, if not quite, engaged. I had taken her to a jeweler’s for a ring, and the talkative jeweler had done the rest. “At any rate, when a man she knew brought several uninvited and unwelcome persons to her house one day — imposing on her because she was a woman of the stage — I told the man what I thought of him. I exercised my rights as a fiance and got challenged. “It was the same old story of six in the morning with pistols at ten or a dozen paces — I forget — and dark clothes and our collars turned up so as not to show any white for a mark. But this time I had played cards all night, instead of walking the floor — I was becoming accustomed. “And I shot him in the arm at the first shot — and left Hamburg very quickly. In fact, my dear, that’s what brought me to this country — and to you.” “Well, Leo, this is the first time I’ve ever heard that. But it’s just like you!” “Do you still believe in the Code?” I asked this quiet, bald-headed gentleman. “The last time I expressed myself on that subject it cost me a thousand dollars,” he said with an air of unutterable disgust. “The man in Connecticut to whom I addressed a challenge turned it over to the police — and I was fined!” “Don’t talk about it!” cried Mrs. Leo. And Mr. Leo didn’t. He had finished — dramatically— artistically — just as the doused lights of the cafe signaled the hour of closing.