er he felt the
slightest jar, as they carried him slowly towards home, though they
were walking as steadily as men could do, and carefully avoiding every
inequality in the road. When at last he reached his own house, he was
not willing to be put to bed, as the surgeon advised, but lay down upon
a lounge instead, where he was made as comfortable as was possible by
his faithful Picard, who was in despair at seeing the young duke in
such a condition; astonished as well, for nothing of the kind had ever
happened before, in all the many duels he had fought; and the admiring
valet had shared his master's belief that he was invincible. The
Chevalier de Vidalinc sat in a low chair beside his friend, and gave him
from time to time a spoonful of the tonic prescribed by the surgeon,
but refrained from breaking the silence into which he had fallen.
Vallombreuse lay perfectly still for a while; but it was easy to see,
in spite of his affected calmness, that his blood was boiling with
suppressed rage. At last he could restrain himself no longer, and burst
out violently: "Oh! Vidalinc, this is too outrageously aggravating! to
think that that contemptible, lean stork, who has flown forth from his
ruined chateau so as not to die of starvation in it, should have dared
to stick his long bill into me! I have encountered, and conquered, the
best swordsmen in France, and never returned from the field before with
so much as a scratch, or without leaving my adversary stretched lifeless
on the ground, or wounded and bleeding in the arms of his friends."

"But you must remember that the most favoured and the bravest of
mortals have their unlucky days, Vallombreuse," answered the chevalier
sententiously, "and Dame Fortune does not ALWAYS smile, even upon
her prime favourites. Until now you have never had to complain of her
frowns, for you have been her pampered darling all your life long."

"Isn't it too disgraceful," continued Vallombreuse, growing more and
more heated, "that this ridiculous buffoon--this grotesque country
clown--who takes such abominable drubbings on the stage, and has never
in his life known what it was to associate with gentlemen, should have
managed to get the best of the Duke of Vallombreuse, hitherto by common
accord pronounced invincible? He must be a professional prize-fighter,
disguised as a strolling mountebank."

"There can be no doubt about his real rank," said Vidalinc, "for
the Marquis de Bruyeres guarantees it;