ghts. I before said, he was brave.
He approached me.

"'Are you not seeking me?' he enquired. 'I know that my intentions
have given you mortal offence, and that the death of one of us is
indispensable: let us see who is to be the happy man.'

"I replied, that such was unquestionably the fact, and that nothing but
death could end the difference between us.

"We retired about one hundred paces out of the town. We drew: I
wounded and disarmed him at the first onset. He was so enraged, that
he peremptorily refused either to ask his life or renounce his claims
to Manon. I might have been perhaps justified in ending both by a
single blow; but noble blood ever vindicates its origin. I threw him
back his sword. 'Let us renew the struggle,' said I to him, 'and
remember that there shall be now no quarter.' He attacked me with
redoubled fury. I must confess that I was not an accomplished
swordsman, having had but three months' tuition in Paris. Love,
however, guided my weapon. Synnelet pierced me through and through the
left arm; but I caught him whilst thus engaged, and made so vigorous a
thrust that I stretched him senseless at my feet.

"In spite of the triumphant feeling that victory, after a mortal
conflict, inspires, I was immediately horrified by the certain
consequences of his death. There could not be the slightest hope of
either pardon or respite from the vengeance I had thus incurred.
Aware, as I was, of the affection of the governor for his nephew, I
felt perfectly sure that my death would not be delayed a single hour
after his should become known. 'Urgent as this apprehension was, it
still was by no means the principal source of my uneasiness. Manon,
the welfare of Manon, the peril that impended over her, and the
certainty of my being now at length separated from her, afflicted me to
such a degree, that I was incapable of recognising the place in which I
stood. I regretted Synnelet's death: instant suicide seemed the only
remedy for my woes.

"However, it was this very thought that quickly restored me to my
reason, and enabled me to form a resolution. 'What,' said I to myself,
'die, in order to end my pain! Then there is something I dread more
than the loss of all I love! No, let me suffer the cruellest
extremities in order to aid her; and when these prove of no avail, fly
to death as a last resource!'

"I returned towards the town; on my arrival at home, I found Manon half
dead with fright an