"Perdez la funeste habitude de me voir tué chaque fois qu'on parle l'épée à l'entour. C'est au contraire moi qui tuerai les autres..."

Autograph letter signed by Claude Farrère, then serving in the military, 47 lines in blue ink, written from Toulon to his friend Pierre Louÿs.
Fold marks inherent to mailing, envelope included.
The soldier Claude Farrère thanks his friend for defending him during a dispute opposing him to a certain Monsieur B even though it was hardly worth devoting so much importance to him: "Monsieur B read, in some Annales, that his fierce enemy was busy waging war in Safi against the Muslims... By incredible misfortune, it happened that I had returned from there. His stupor was then so great that he lost his head...", "Now I will never tell you to what extent I was moved by your role, and by V.'s role in the whole affair..."
Confident in his qualities as a fencer and marksman, Claude Farrère allows himself this gentle and humorous jibe at his friend, and seeks to reassure him at the risk of falling into anachronism: "Lose the disastrous habit of seeing me killed each time someone speaks of swords around. On the contrary, it is I who will kill the others... I do a great deal of fencing now. And I shoot the pistol like the late William Tell. Therefore be quiet. There. When shall we meet?"