open the door and burst in on Sophy and Amaldi.
The _Grappa_ had made his face dead-white and his blue eyes black. He
looked terrible, towering there, glaring at them speechless for the
first second. Then he strode forward and took Sophy by the arm.

"So you lied to me!" he said. "You lied to me! You wanted to stay here
alone for your----"

Amaldi also took a step forward. His face, too, was ghastly. Chesney
whirled on him, releasing Sophy's arm. She fell back against the wall,
grasping at the window curtain for support. She seemed to press against
the hard stone of the wall, as though trying to melt into it.

Chesney, his head lowered between his shoulders, roared at Amaldi like
the bull he resembled.

"You damned little sneak, get out of here! Out of this house!" he
shouted.

Amaldi looked him in the eyes.

"'_Charbonnier est maitre chez lui_,'" (A coal-heaver is master in his
own house), he said icily. "I will go. But I will give you a gentleman's
chance--I will send you my seconds."

Chesney vented a great "Ha!" of utter, insolent derision.

"Why, you little emasculated Don Juan---- You----" he spat an
unmentionable name--"d'you think I'd fight one of your tin-soldier
farces with you? Clear out!"

"Coward!" said Amaldi, in that same low, icy voice.

Then Chesney, inarticulate with rage, lifted his walking-stick and
rushed on him. Amaldi was a master swords-man. With his own stick he
parried the other's blows. Once, twice, thrice he parried; then,
suddenly, by a quick, sharp stroke across the wrist, disarmed him.

Chesney stood dazed for an instant by the unexpectedness of the thing.
As he stood thus, Amaldi left the room. But even as he did so Chesney
broke from his trance and leaped after him. At once Sophy had her arms
about him. She clung desperately, swinging round in front of him,
hanging upon him with all her weight and strength.

"You shall not! You shall not!" she kept saying through her set teeth.

It was impossible for him to move quickly with the tall, frantic woman
clinging to him, adapting herself to all his movements with supple
instinct. He could not tear himself loose from her without hurting her
brutally. He was not so lost as to do that. At last he caught the folds
of Sophy's blouse over her breast in a fierce grip, dragged her to her
feet, shook her to and fro as he held her. His whole face was a
distorted snarl.

"Be quiet!" he ground out. "Keep still! Your lover's safe ... for t