Nobody in New Orleans had ever made Bernard de Marigny look foolish in public. He was rich past counting, small as a foil, and very likely the most dangerous man in Louisiana with a pistol in his hand. Then a blacksmith from a far parish, seven feet of him and slow to speak, said something true on the floor of the legislature, and the whole chamber laughed.
The card came to the forge two days later.
The blacksmith was no duelist. He was, however, a man who had spent his life learning where something hard gives.
From Short Storyverses. More at shortstoryverses.com.
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