ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INCLUDING THE RIGHT OF REPRODUCTION EN WHOLE OR IN PART IN ANY FORM 1956 BY GUY ENDORE PUBLISHED BY SIMON AND SCHUSTER, INC. ROCKEFELLER CENTER, 630 FD7TH AVENUE NEW YORK 20, N. Y. FIRST PRINTING LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER 56-9908 MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AMERICAN BOOK-STRATFORD PRESS, MC,, NEW YORK TO Marcia and Gita, my daughters And my thanks to the library staff of the Uni versity of California in Los Angeles for providing me with many hard-to-find books, and to Mary Clarke for friendly discussions and help on the manuscript, and to Joseph Mischel zichrono livracha, may his memory be a blessing for his invaluable encouragement and stimulation. CHYptO, PUBLIC UBRARV Le liure de la vie est le lime supreme Quon ne pent ni fermer, ni rouvrir a son choix Le passage attachant ne sy lit pas deux fois, Mais le feuillet fatal se tourne de lui-meme On voudrait revenir a la page ou Ion aime Et le page ou Ton meurt est deja sous vos doigts. Verse written in an album by Alphonse de Lamartine CONTENTS PAGE PBOLOGUE The Secret That Every Man Takes to His Grave 1 CHAPTER 1 Duel after the Masquerade Ball 13 2 How to Give a Horse a Ride 33 3 A Black Devil 45 4 The Omelet Masterpiece 51 5 Duel with God 68 6 Out of Sheer Natural Abundance 83 7 Iron Shoes for a Prince 98 8 Six Hundred Glasses of Absinthe 111 9 The Gold Is Gone 121 10 A Private Secretary for a Poor Lad 127 11 Cherchez la Femme 137 12 Clique versus Claque 149 13 . . . a Prince of Wales Was Born to Me 168 14 BirthAdulterous 178 15 The Invincible Stomach 199 16 . . . and Palaces Where Kings Lay Dying 9 207 17 A New Religion The Grotesque 221 18 Thunder in Jour Fist 238 vii viii Contents CHAPTER PAGE 19 A Plundered Man 254 20 Love for Love 262 21 Duelist 274 22 Annexation versus Stealing 287 23 The Whole World for Ten Sous 301 24 Marriage a la Mode 314 25 I Want to Be a Legend 321 26 The Font of Money 339 27 N0t S ioes and Old Mistresses 349 28 The Dueling Code 356 29 Douw tmtfi the Stars 365 30 A Bagatelle 372 31 T ie Incomprehensible Red and White Camellias 378 32 As Little Time As I Have to Live, It Will Be Longer Than You Will Want to Love 392 33 The Two Writers 400 34 This Time I Want a Corpse 414 35 If He Can Fight for His Father, Why Cant I Fight for Mine 9 429 36 The Secret That Must Be Kept Inviolate 437 37 Duel after the Masquerade Ball 451 38 Visit to a Dead Man 469 EPILOGUE Thou Knowest 475 MORE EPILOGUE A Penny to Your Memory 485 A Final Word 496 PROLOGUE The Secret That Every Man Takes to His Grave HE WAS ONE of those men who live ten lives while the rest of us are struggling through one. What an experience it must have been to have known him in person. In the flesh. In his towering mass of warm flesh, never tired and never cold, six feet three in his stockinged feet. Laughing at all his enemies, shrugging off their scorn and their ridicule, saying, What do you expect of me Im once and for all simply incapable of hate. Rage Yes, I can be enraged. Because rage is brief. But hate No, I cant hate. Hate endures. And this in spite of the fact that he wrote The Count of Monte Cristo, classic novel of implacable hatred. He fought, according to his own count, at least thirteen duels. The result of his momentary rages, of course. And one of these duels has the distinction of being perhaps the shortest on record. Pistols cried Dumas. I insist on pistols Swords countered Jules Janin, the well-known critic and novelist. Am I not the injured party Have I not the right to the choice of weapons Very well then I say swords You must be mad Dumas exclaimed. Dont you know that Tm a genius with the sword I command every one of the 12,210 com binations of the eight positions. Pistols or you are as good as dead. Do you question my ability with a pistol Janin protested. Why, I can snuff out a candle at thirty paces. Youre finished if you put a pistol in my hand. No. It must be swords. Such mutual magnanimity proved irresistible...