Aramis clears his throat, staring with greater determination at the ceiling, for a duel is exactly what he had suggested to Allison. It worked for d'Artagnan, after all, and she and he are remarkably alike.

"It will hardly come to that," he says. "They are our best man and maid of honor - they will have to work together, or I will send you in with the saddest pair of brown eyes they have ever beheld."