As a blow is strictly prohibited under any circumstances among gentlemen, no verbal apology can be received for such an insult. The alternatives, therefore -- the offender handing a cane to the injured party, to be used on his own back, at the same time begging pardon; firing on until one or both are disabled; or exchanging three shots, and then asking pardon without proffer of the cane.
If swords are used, the parties engage until one is well blooded, disabled, or disarmed; or until, after receiving a wound, and blood being drawn, the aggressor begs pardon.
N.B. A disarm is considered the same as a disable. The disarmer may (strictly) break his adversary's sword; but if it be the challenger who is disarmed, it is considered as ungenerous to do so.
In the case the challenged be disarmed and refuses to ask pardon or atone, he must not be killed, as formerly; but the challenger may lay his own sword on the aggressor's shoulder, then break the aggressor's sword and say, "I spare your life!"
It must have been nice to have a set of rules for solving complicated social questions, although it seems absurd that anyone would submit to such rules when to do so would put them at more than a minor disadvantage. And yet they did, as men and women of honor have always done what they thought was their duty. There's a terrible beauty in placing principle above all else, and while it can also bring about the worst in people, the fact remains that ideas and principles are more worth dying for than just about anything else, except family. That may be the sign of a worthy principle; is it worth dying for?
And if it is, in what order should one apologize during the resultant duel, and to whom, and what if a lady is present? The Code Duello will set you straight.
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