Book excerpt: 'The Grand Duke', also known as 'The Statutory Duel' is the final Savoy Opera written by librettist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan, their fourteenth and last opera together. The plot hinges on the misinterpretation of a 100-year-old law regarding statutory duels (decided by drawing cards). The baffled leading man of the troupe, Ludwig, spearheads the rebellion against the hypochondriac, miserly Grand Duke, and becomes engaged to four different women before the plot is resolved.